WHO: Ebola outbreak in Congo not over, handling is starting to improve

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the handling of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has begun to show progress after the number of suspected cases fell sharply in the past week. However, a number of major challenges still hinder the efforts to control the outbreak.

Quoted from Xinhua, Thursday, June 4, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this after returning from a visit to Congo.

"What I see gives me hope, even though challenges remain," Tedros told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

According to the WHO, to date there have been 344 confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo, including 60 deaths. The cases are spread across 24 health zones in three provinces.

On the other hand, the number of suspected cases, or cases that are still suspected of Ebola, has dropped to 116 cases. Last week, the number was still more than 1,000 cases.

Tedros said the WHO risk assessment had not changed. The risk of the outbreak remains at a very high level at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level.

"This outbreak has a time advantage and we were behind. However, under the leadership of the Government of Congo, we began to catch up," he said.

Despite progress, the WHO assessed that a number of major problems have not been resolved.

One of them is to increase laboratory capacity and diagnostic capabilities so that cases can be confirmed faster. This step is important to accelerate handling and help decision-making in the field.

Contact tracing is also still a challenge. This process is carried out to identify people who have been in contact with patients and are at risk of infection.

In addition, travel restrictions are still disrupting the distribution of logistics and supplies needed to handle the outbreak.

WHO also highlighted that there was still a lack of trust from some people towards the Ebola handling efforts. This condition can hinder the detection of cases and handling in the field.

According to Xinhua, another challenge that is no less great is the lack of vaccines that have received special use and therapy permits for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain, which is the type of Ebola virus that causes the outbreak this time.