The outbreak of Ebola cases pushes the Congo epidemic to a "critical point"

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Humanitarian agencies said Thursday that the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is likely to tip over into a wider crisis as the number of new cases increases and were victims of violence for the second time.

The disease has reportedly infected 194 people and killed 122 people since the beginning of the epidemic in eastern Congo in July, according to the health ministry.

The number of new cases per day has more than doubled since September, in part because deteriorating security is holding back the response, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said.

The epidemic is concentrated in the city of Beni, where rebels killed at least 18 people during an attack last month, forcing health workers to suspend their operations for several days.

According to the United Nations, four civilians were killed in another attack near Beni on Tuesday. The IRC again suspended its programs on Wednesday and restarted Thursday afternoon, but only within the city of Beni, a spokeswoman said.

"The current increase in the number of Ebola cases and deaths is extremely worrying," said Michelle Gayer, Senior Director of Emergency Health at IRC.

"It is likely that the forced suspension of programming due to the insecurity and resistance of the community in Beni and around Beni is a major factor in this regard," she said.

Armed rebellion and ethnic killings have been perpetrated in this region since the two civil wars of the late 1990s.

Community resistance also provoked violence, with angry villagers repeatedly attacking Red Cross volunteers and preventing a funeral last week.

"We are afraid that [violence] contributes to the resurgence of Ebola cases in Beni and that this could be the starting point for an accelerated spread of the disease, "spokesman Euloge Ishimwe told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Red.

The conspiracy theories, fear and mistrust surrounding the disease have led people to resist help and hide the symptoms, he said.

The epidemic is expected to last at least three or four months, but if insecurity persists, there could be "a much larger wave building," said Peter Salama, head of the country's emergency response mission, on Thursday. the World Health Organization.