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More than 1,000 people have died of Ebola in eastern Congo since August, said the country's health minister, whose hostility to health personnel was hampering efforts deployed to contain the second epidemic of the virus.
Health Minister Oly Ilunga told The Associated Press that four deaths in the epicenter of the Katwa epidemic had brought the death toll to 1,008. Two more deaths have been reported in the town of Butembo.
The epidemic reported almost nine months ago had already caused the highest number of deaths after the 2014-2016 epidemic in western Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, which cost more than of 11,000 people.
The unstable security situation and deep distrust of the community hampered efforts to control the epidemic in eastern Congo. Ebola treatment centers have been repeatedly attacked, leaving government health officials at clinics in Butembo and Katwa hot spots.
International humanitarian organizations have stopped working in both communities because of the violence. A Cameroonian epidemiologist working for the WHO was killed last month during the attack on a hospital in Butembo.
Insecurity has become a "major hurdle" in controlling the Ebola outbreak, told reporters Michael Ryan, chief of WHO's health emergencies, in Geneva.
He added that 119 attacks have been recorded since January, including 42 against health facilities, and that 85 health workers have been injured or killed. Dozens of rebel groups operate in the region, and political rivalries partly fuel the community's rejection of health personnel.
"Whenever we managed to regain control of the virus and contain it, we had serious security problems," Ryan said. "We anticipate a scenario of continuous intense transmission" of the disease.
The WHO said that the most recent Ebola outbreak has remained contained in eastern Congo, while the number of cases is increasing in a densely populated and extremely mobile population near the border with the United States. Uganda and Rwanda.
Many people are afraid to go to Ebola treatment centers, preferring to stay home and risk transmitting the virus disease to the people who are taking care of it and to their neighbors.
Residents of Butembo, who are very unstable, believe the Ebola virus has been voluntarily introduced into the city, said 24-year-old Vianney Musavuli.
"I am deeply saddened to learn that the number of deaths from Ebola has exceeded 1,000," Musavuli said. "The problem is that people in this region believe that Ebola is a political affair, which is why locals continue to take on teams in retaliation."
Residents of the region were prevented from participating in the January presidential election, with the Congolese government citing security concerns. Some people are wondering why money is being invested in the fight against the Ebola virus when every year more people die from malaria and other preventable diseases.
Insecurity has also prevented vaccination teams from visiting certain areas, further limiting the health response. Yet more than 109,000 people have received an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine. Ryan said the authorities were planning to introduce another one.
He called for increased aid from Congo and other countries to fill an "urgent and urgent deficit" of some US $ 54 million in containment funds.
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