{"id":551082,"date":"2026-07-15T14:27:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551082\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T14:27:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:27:25","slug":"confirmed-ebola-cases-top-2000-in-congo-including-754-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551082\/","title":{"rendered":"Confirmed Ebola cases top 2,000 in Congo, including 754 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUNIA, Congo — BUNIA, Congo (AP) \u2014 The number of confirmed cases of Ebola<\/a> in Congo has reached 2,011, including 754 deaths, according to government data released overnight in what authorities say is the fastest-growing outbreak on record.<\/p>\n

Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region’s largest medical center, went on strike on Wednesday and are the latest group to have walked off their job<\/a> at the epicenter over payment issues. Health professionals and other front line workers barricaded the entrance of the hospital, claiming they have not received any compensation despite working under difficult conditions. <\/p>\n

The World Health Organization says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.<\/p>\n

The Central African nation has been battling the Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus<\/a> since May 15. A total of 753 patients remain in isolation or in hospitals, while 366 have so far recovered, according to data from Congo\u2019s Ministry of Health. Contact tracing remains a challenge, with coverage of those exposed still at 67%.<\/p>\n

The outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track<\/a> despite an expanding response. At least 80% of new cases are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, the WHO said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A key challenge is that health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak\u2019s patient zero<\/a>, while displacements from armed conflict as well as mining-related movements have made it difficult to trace thousands who have come in contact with infected individuals.<\/p>\n

Many of the newly reported deaths are those who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the WHO health emergencies chief, said Tuesday after returning from Bunia in Ituri, the worst-hit province in the outbreak.<\/p>\n

The health response is being hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centers, an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and mistrust among local communities.<\/p>\n

Dozens of healthcare workers at an Ebola virus treatment center<\/a> in Rwampara, another hard hit city in the Ituri province, went on strike over unpaid salaries<\/a> and bonuses on Monday. On Tuesday, they agreed to resume work under the condition that the government pays them within 72 hours.<\/p>\n

Some have told The Associated Press they have not received any payment since they started work at the onset of the outbreak. <\/p>\n

Response efforts have also been challenged by the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, unlike the more common Zaire virus for which there is a vaccine and which was responsible for most of Congo\u2019s past 16 outbreaks of the disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enrollment for a highly anticipated study<\/a> of two possible Ebola treatments recently started in Ituri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUNIA, Congo — BUNIA, Congo (AP) \u2014 The number of confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo has reached…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[58119,4935,1595,103,61,15575,60,371,14828,268],"class_list":["post-551082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-compensation-and-benefits","tag-ebola-virus","tag-general-news","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-immunizations","tag-ireland","tag-medication","tag-strikes","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}