Ebola transmission is beginning to decline in some of the worst-affected areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, although the outbreak continues to expand overall, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
“We are now starting to see encouraging signs that we are gaining ground,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
Tedros said transmission had fallen in the hardest-hit parts of Ituri province. South Kivu, meanwhile, has recorded no new infections since May, while more than 1,700 people have recovered from the disease.
Four months into the outbreak, Ebola has also remained largely confined to northeastern DRC, apart from a limited outbreak in neighbouring Uganda that Tedros said was “swiftly stopped.”
Despite those improvements, the WHO chief cautioned that the overall epidemic remains serious. More than 7,200 cases and 3,500 deaths have been reported across seven provinces.
Ituri remains the centre of the outbreak, recording around 300 new infections and 160 deaths during the past week — nearly half of the national total.
The situation is also worsening in North Kivu, where weekly cases have almost doubled over the past two weeks, rising from approximately 100 to more than 200.
“The key indicators are not yet improving as they must,” Tedros said.
“The response will need to be sustained and strengthened over many demanding months.”