The U.S. CDC said containment efforts were failing to meet established response goals and described the outbreak’s expansion across health zones as uncontrolled. MedPage Today reported that health workers have repeatedly gone on strike while seeking payment amid difficult working conditions.
Figures from Congo’s Ministry of Health showed 6,186 confirmed cases and 3,007 deaths since the outbreak was declared a global health emergency. Those figures put the death toll above 3,000 and the case count above 6,100.
The outbreak has accelerated in recent weeks, with North Kivu among the areas seeing new affected health zones and higher fatality rates than other affected provinces. The virus has also moved beyond the initial concentration of the outbreak, reaching provinces across the country.
Conflict in the eastern region, attacks on health workers, the movement of miners and weak health infrastructure have all complicated efforts to slow transmission. The return of students to school during the outbreak has added concern about spread in classrooms.
The World Health Organization warned that the outbreak could overtake West Africa’s Ebola epidemic from 2014 through 2016, which claimed 11,000 lives. The Africa CDC said weak surveillance and contact tracing could mean the number of cases is substantially higher than the recorded total.
The outbreak is already the deadliest Ebola outbreak in Congo, while no vaccine or approved treatment exists for the virus involved. The government has begun distributing a vaccine to frontline health workers in Kisangani, and the World Health Organization said it could provide some protection.
The response is taking place as the disease spreads faster than efforts to track and contain it, according to the report.