{"id":42131,"date":"2026-08-11T10:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=42131"},"modified":"2026-08-11T10:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:46:09","slug":"ebola-deaths-surpass-2-000-in-drc","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ebola-deaths-surpass-2-000-in-drc\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola deaths surpass 2 000 in DRC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said this Tuesday that confirmed Ebola deaths had reached 2 011, the latest grim milestone in what health officials have described as the fastest-spreading outbreak on \u200brecord.<br \/>\nThe latest data from Congo&#8217;s public health institute, seen by <em>Reuters<\/em>, also \u200breported 4 381 confirmed cases across five provinces.<\/p>\n<p>Delayed detection, conflict and strained \u2060health services have helped the virus spread more rapidly than in previous outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bcurrent outbreak, DRC&#8217;s 17th, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which \u200bthere are no approved vaccines or treatments.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the outbreak, which has also led to cases in neighbouring Uganda, a public health emergency of international concern.<\/p>\n<p>A study \u200bpublished last month in the journal Science found that transmission may have begun \u200bin January or earlier in Ituri province, identifying more than 500 suspected cases between mid-January and \u200cMay \u206015.<\/p>\n<p>Shortages of medical supplies and insecurity in affected areas have complicated efforts to trace contacts, isolate patients and curb transmission.<\/p>\n<p>The DRC government data shows that only West Africa&#8217;s 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak was bigger, with 28 616 cases and \u200b11 310 deaths recorded across \u200bGuinea, Liberia and \u2060Sierra Leone, according to the WHO.<\/p>\n<p>It took nearly five months from the declaration of that outbreak to hit \u200b1 000 deaths, whereas Congo&#8217;s current outbreak has hit 2 000 deaths \u200bin less \u2060than three months.<\/p>\n<p>In an Ebola outbreak in Congo from 2018 to 2020, it took a little over 12 months to hit 2 000 deaths. In the current outbreak, deaths have \u2060jumped from \u200b1 000 to 2 000 in less than a month, \u200bfurther underscoring how quickly the virus is spreading.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34676,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-42131","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Delayed detection, conflict and strained \u2060health services have helped the virus spread more rapidly.","published_date":"","news_description":"Delayed detection, conflict and strained \u2060health services have helped the virus spread more rapidly.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42132,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42131\/revisions\/42132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}