The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak confirmed to have killed 61 people in central Africa had a “big head-start”, and said “blanket travel restrictions” were hindering the response.
The outbreak was declared on May 15 in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but the virus is believed to have been spreading under the radar for some time beforehand.
“The outbreak had a big head-start and we’re still behind,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the UN health agency’s headquarters in Geneva, but voiced hope that “we’re catching up”.
To date, there have been 344 confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC in the ongoing outbreak, including 60 deaths, according to Congolese health authorities and the WHO, which also tally over 100 suspected cases of the disease.
Fifteen cases, including one death, have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda, according to the Ugandan Ministry of Health.
The first identified Ebola case was a nurse who sought treatment in Bunia on April 24, though health officials believe the outbreak originated in nearby Mongbwalu. Authorities are investigating how and when the outbreak began in the conflict-affected eastern DRC.
Need to ‘move faster’
Tedros, who had just returned from a trip to DRC, where he travelled to the epicentre of the outbreak, stressed that there were many possible scenarios.
“It could be January, it could be February, March, April,” he said, stressing the need to complete a “proper investigation”.
