Overview
- The DRC reported on Sunday that confirmed cases have reached 1,003 with 254 deaths, and the epidemic remains concentrated in Ituri province while also spreading to other eastern provinces and Uganda.
- Health workers have been hit hard with at least 78 infected and 18 dead, with many infections occurring in ordinary clinics before Ebola was suspected.
- Response capacity has been scaled up to hundreds of beds and more laboratories, but WHO says overall preparedness is only about three or four out of ten and resources still lag demand.
- Contact tracing covers roughly 55 percent of potential exposures and more than 35,000 contacts still need follow up, leaving major surveillance gaps that allow hidden chains of transmission.
- Violence and mass displacement are blocking access to communities and creating crowded camps where uncontrolled spread would be catastrophic, while the DRC has launched a free-healthcare pilot in Ituri and boosted pay and protections for response staff.