PRETORIA, September 2. /TASS/. The number of laboratory-confirmed Ebola deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is now up to 3,007, the Ministry of Communications and Media said.
The death toll rose by 57 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of Ebola cases to 6,186, including 86 identified during that period, while the case fatality rate stands at 48.6%.
About 830 people with symptoms are in hospitals and quarantine facilities. Health authorities are monitoring 88% of the people who had contact with patients infected with Ebola.
The outbreak began on May 15 in the DRC and Uganda and has already become the second deadliest in the history of Ebola surveillance in Africa. The disease has now been reported in six Congolese provinces, with the epicenter located in Ituri Province. On July 28, Ugandan authorities announced the end of the Ebola outbreak in their country. On August 25, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak’s end in Uganda.
This outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo ebolavirus, for which a vaccine is still in the clinical trial stage. Last week, the DRC began vaccinating at-risk groups with a vaccine that has proven effective against another Ebola pathogen, the Zaire ebolavirus.
The largest Ebola outbreak occurred in West Africa from 2014 to 2016, affecting Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. At that time, more than 11,000 people died. The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals. The first recorded case of human Ebola infection occurred in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC is the 17th on record.