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LONDON – The number of new cases of Ebola has more than doubled since September after rebel violence in northeastern Congo briefly suspended response efforts, health officials said Thursday.
In a statement, the International Rescue Committee said it was "alarmed" that there were 33 new cases between October 1 and Tuesday, as against 41 cases in September.
Most of the new cases occurred in Beni, where experts had to suspend their efforts to contain the Ebola virus for days after a deadly rebel attack. With several armed groups active in the area, health officials said they were operating effectively in a war zone.
"This is not only a sign that the epidemic is not under control, but without the full commitment of the community, the situation could worsen," said Dr. Michelle Gayer, Senior Director of Community Health. CRI emergency.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization noted that all health workers who contracted Ebola during this epidemic – until now – have been infected outside of hospitals or clinics, means that the virus is spreading in the community.
The WHO warned that the risk of regional spread of the Ebola virus is "very high," noting that the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri affected by Congo share borders with Uganda and Rwanda. The WHO said the risk of international spread remains low.
Although the UN health agency said experts were monitoring more than 2,100 cases of Ebola in Beni this week, the epicenter of the outbreak also revealed that it had lost another 40.
According to the WHO, health workers are looking for a confirmed case that left an Ebola clinic in Beni and "disappeared into an unsafe area of Kalunguta". The spread of the virus in "red zones", where the threat of armed groups makes health efforts almost impossible, is a major concern.
The Ministry of Health of Congo said that to date 159 cases have been confirmed, including 87 deaths. More than 15,000 people have been immunized with a new vaccine since the outbreak was declared on August 1.
The WHO said that health workers burying Ebola victims, whose bodies were infectious, have faced "a new level of aggression" from communities and that the efforts aimed at burying people safely stopped in certain areas.
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