The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo can still be contained despite its continued spread across the country.
The WHO Incident Manager, Thierno Balde, said the outbreak could be brought under control within three months if adequate resources were provided.
The outbreak, Congo’s worst of 17, has killed at least 2,325 people, making it the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.
Mr Balde said the situation had worsened since the WHO initially projected that the spread could be reversed within three months, as the outbreak now extends to a sixth province.
“About the next plan for the three months, yes, if you have the necessary resources, I think it will be possible to do that,” he said.
The WHO has raised about 60 per cent of the $115 million needed to fund the Ebola response.
Mr Balde identified delayed detection, overstretched surveillance teams, armed conflict and shortages of vaccines and treatments for the Bundibugyo strain as major challenges.
He said containment efforts were being stepped up, with 400 additional beds added over the past two weeks.
He added that more epidemiologists would be deployed to trace contacts of infected people.
“The situation is quite difficult, but people are working here day and night trying to control this outbreak,” Mr Balde said.
He, however, said the outbreak remained far from being contained, noting that between 70 and 80 per cent of new cases had no known link to previously identified patients.
According to him, the development indicated that the virus was continuing to spread undetected in several areas.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Head of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Wessam Mankoula, said the full extent of the outbreak remained unclear.
“We are far from discovering the magnitude of this outbreak,” Mr Mankoula said.
The WHO Emergency Committee is meeting on Tuesday to review the outbreak, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the UN agency on May 17.
The committee is expected to decide whether to extend the emergency declaration and issue recommendations to countries on measures to curb the spread.
(Reuters/NAN)