Overview
- The World Health Organization said on Thursday that confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have passed 2,000 with roughly 750–796 deaths and that the outbreak is spreading faster than any previous Ebola event.
- WHO officials warn more than 80% of recent infections are detected outside known contact lists, indicating many transmission chains and cases are being missed and that true totals could be two to four times higher.
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a 'do-not-board' 21-day restriction for people recently in the DRC, a move aid groups say will hinder recruitment of U.S. responders and complicate operations.
- Security incidents and unpaid-staff strikes have forced evacuations and temporary closures of treatment centres in Ituri, including an attack on Nyakunde Hospital that left patients and medical teams fleeing and some people without care.
- Clinical trials of candidate therapeutics (MBP134 and remdesivir) have begun in Ituri and the University of Oxford has started first-in-human safety testing of a Bundibugyo vaccine, but no approved vaccine or specific treatment exists for this strain.