The Ebola response is tightening in eastern Congo with the confirmation of seven new cases: the Ministry of Health

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Congolese authorities on Wednesday announced a ban on hosting suspected Ebola patients and promised police protection for health workers at funerals, in an effort to combat local resistance to bloodshed. fight against the disease.

Residents of eastern Congo have attacked health workers and refused to cooperate with the government's efforts to fight Ebola, the country's second major epidemic this year, which has reportedly killed 118 people since July.

Ebola has spread to Beni, a city of several hundred thousand people where many people have been confirmed infected. The authorities fear that without the cooperation of the local population, they have difficulty in containing it.

The Ministry of Health has notified one or two new confirmed cases a day in recent weeks, but reported seven late Tuesday, six in Beni and one in the town of Masereka, 100 km away. He attributed the faster pace to community resistance to measures to fight the epidemic.

Local mistrust and rebel attacks have disrupted treatment and vaccination programs. The Mayor of Beni, Jean Edmond Nyonyi Bwanakawa, told Reuters on Wednesday that the decree prohibiting patient accommodation would be promulgated later in the day.

The Ministry of Health said the decree would impose a prison term of up to three months for people harboring patients suspected of having Ebola.

Healthcare professionals who do not refer an alleged Ebola patient to a treatment center will have their own centers closed. Families will need a death certificate to obtain a burial permit and health workers will benefit from police protection at their burials.

Proper burial of Ebola victims is essential for controlling the disease, which causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, and is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids.

Three villagers of the Congolese Red Cross were attacked by villagers last week while they were participating in the burial of an Ebola victim, which resulted in the suspension of some burials in the area.