Confirmed Ebola cases in Congo reached 2,973 with 1,309 deaths as workers at a Bunia treatment center joined strikes over unpaid compensation and difficult conditions. Congo government data released Friday counted 2,973 confirmed cases of Ebola and 1,309 deaths in the current outbreak, according to AP reporting from Bunia.
Health workers at an Ebola treatment center in Bunia went on strike Saturday to demand pay, joining other workers who said compensation and benefits had not arrived despite months of hazardous work. Authorities identified the outbreak as Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a strain for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment comparable to the tools available for the more common Zaire strain.
AP's comparison found that the outbreak reached 1,000 deaths in just over two months, nearly three times faster than the 2013-2016 West Africa epidemic reached the same toll. Conflict, community resistance, delayed detection and an uneven response have limited case finding and isolation, while community deaths indicate that some infections are not reaching treatment centers.
The government and international health organizations had not announced that transmission had peaked, and the continuing strikes reduced staffing at a critical point in the response.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, and safe treatment, contact tracing, protective equipment and burial practices are central to interrupting transmission. Eastern Congo's armed conflict complicates travel, surveillance and trust between communities and institutions, increasing the time required to investigate alerts and move patients safely.
Case and death counts can lag actual transmission because laboratory confirmation, reporting and access are incomplete during a fast-moving outbreak. As of the edition cutoff, Official totals were provisional, and the number of unreported infections, community deaths and workers participating in strikes remained uncertain. The next scheduled factual records include payment agreements and restoration of treatment-center staffing and WHO and Africa CDC updates on spread, care capacity and candidate countermeasures.