Overview
- MSF warned Sunday that six months after the WHO declared the emergency the outbreak is not under control because most new infections are “surprise cases” with no known links to other patients.
- Government data place confirmed infections above 11,000 with nearly half of people infected reported to have died, making this one of the deadliest Ebola outbreaks on record.
- Responders report concrete operational failures including unpaid or untrained staff, ambulances without fuel, shortages of protective gear and diagnostics, and surveillance teams unable to reach many communities.
- Aid groups and Africa CDC figures cited concerns that roughly $700 million of roughly $962 million channelled for the response is unaccounted for, leaving frontline teams undersupplied and unpaid.
- Ongoing violence in eastern Congo has blocked access to contacts and treatment sites, increased community deaths and spread the Bundibugyo virus across eight provinces and into neighboring countries, and vaccine trial results are still months away.