This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46167340

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
DR Congo Ebola outbreak: Death toll passes 200 DR Congo Ebola outbreak 'worst' in country's history
(about 9 hours later)
More than 200 people have now died in the latest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to health officials. The latest outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the worst in the country's history, the health ministry says.
About half the victims were from Beni, a city of 800,000 in the North Kivu region, the national health authority said. Almost 200 people have died since August, officials say, with more than 300 confirmed or probable cases.
A vaccination programme has so far inoculated about 25,000 people.A vaccination programme has so far inoculated about 25,000 people.
However, health minister Oly Ilunga said armed rebels were continuing to harass medical teams. Congo has suffered long years of instability and efforts to relieve the disease have been hampered by attacks on medical workers.
In September, vaccinations were suspended in Beni when a rebel group launched an attack that lasted several hours. "At this point, 319 cases and 198 deaths have been registered," health minister Oly Ilunga said.
Congo has suffered from years of civil war and political upheaval. "In view of these figures, my thoughts and my prayers go to the hundreds of families grieving, to the hundreds of orphans and the families which have been wiped out."
The current outbreak of Ebola, which began in July, is the 10th to hit the country since 1976. The virus is spread via small amounts of bodily fluid and infection often proves fatal. About half the victims were from Beni, a city of 800,000 in the North Kivu region, the national health authority said.
In its latest update, the health ministry said 291 cases had been confirmed and 201 deaths had been recorded. The current outbreak is the tenth Congo has suffered and the worst since Congo's first epidemic in 1976, so early in the disease's history it had yet to be named.
UN peacekeepers in the country have called on armed groups not to hinder medical workers fighting the disease. The outbreak in 1976 of what was then an unknown disease in a remote part of Congo sparked terror, but was brought under control by experts quickly identifying the virus' nature and using quarantines.
Mr Ilunga said, on Friday, that teams had faced "threats, physical assaults, repeated destruction of their equipment and kidnapping". Ebola is spread via small amounts of bodily fluid and infection often proves fatal.
"Two of our colleagues in the Rapid Response Medical Unit have even lost their lives in an attack," he added. Early symptoms are flu-like, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and internal and external bleeding.
Last week, the World Health Organization's director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the lack of security was posing the greatest challenge in countering the current epidemic.