The World Health Organization has called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to strengthen measures to contain the spread of Ebola, after the outbreak killed more than 2,500 people in three months.
The WHO recommended postponing large public gatherings, tightening surveillance and restricting movement in areas where the virus is being transmitted among the population.
The outbreak was officially declared on May 15 and has since spread to six provinces. In just three months it has killed more people than the epidemic that struck the eastern part of the country between 2018 and 2020, which had until now been considered the deadliest in the Democratic Republic of Congo's history.
WHO recommendations
The WHO's emergency committee met last week to review the course of the outbreak. The organization published a set of proposals on Monday, drawn up by its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Tedros has led the WHO, the United Nations agency responsible for international public health, since 2017.
The Democratic Republic of Congo was called on to strengthen the resources it uses to fight the epidemic, with emphasis on surveillance and case management, control of movement and public gatherings, community mobilization and protection of health workers.
Restrictions on gatherings and movement
The WHO also submitted a new set of recommendations on what it called social measures, gatherings and internal movement. It proposed postponing large gatherings in areas where transmission is being recorded among the population, reducing the number of people allowed into restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and limiting motorcycle rides to a single passenger per trip.
Round-the-clock checks
The organization also proposed measures to allow schools to reopen safely, 24-hour road health checks in zones where the virus is spreading and in areas considered at high risk of further spread, and stepped-up surveillance of boats linking affected areas to major urban centers, particularly the capital, Kinshasa.
Kinshasa, one of Africa's largest cities, sits on the Congo River and serves as the country's main political and commercial hub.
International support sought
Beyond these measures, the WHO also asked, for the first time, that the Democratic Republic of Congo facilitate the deployment of international health teams and the import of equipment needed for the response, by speeding up checks carried out by immigration and customs services.
The organization further recommended that all deaths outside treatment centers be investigated so that contacts can be traced, and that community reluctance to accept safe and dignified burials be better analyzed.
It called for deeper investigation into how the virus is being transmitted, particularly whether patients are being treated at home or by traditional healers, and into the possibility of an animal-to-human source of the outbreak.
No vaccine or treatment
There is currently no vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus linked to the current outbreak. Clinical trials are underway.
