It was not immediately known whether anyone was hurt in the attack on Mongbavalu General Hospital, but Dr. Richard Lokudu, the hospital’s medical director, told The Associated Press that the attackers demanded that two bodies of their relatives be handed over to them.
There was firing and doctors were trying to evacuate patients and staff, Lokudu said over the phone.
“Mongbavalu General Hospital is on general alert,” he said. He had no further details of the unfolding turmoil.
assault – third within a week At health care facilities where medical staff are struggling with a lack of resources to treat suspected Ebola cases – the challenges of the outbreak are underlined, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
The bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly infectious and it can spread further when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals.
In response to the outbreak, Congolese authorities have ordered that the dangerous task of burying suspected victims be managed by authorities wherever possible, which can be met with opposition from families and friends. The government said on Friday Funeral vigils and gatherings A ban on people over 50 will be imposed in northeastern Congo in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.
On Saturday, a group of residents of Mongbwalu, located in Ituri province, attacked and set fire to a tent set up by the Doctors Without Borders humanitarian group for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases.
Lokudu had previously said that during that attack, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections had left the facility and were no longer traceable.
On Thursday, another treatment center was burned down in the town of Rwampara after family members were banned from collecting the body of a local man suspected of dying from Ebola.
WHO has said the outbreak poses a “very high” risk to Congo – up from the previous category of “high” – but the risk of the disease spreading globally is low.
Earlier on Sunday, Congo’s communications ministry said on Friday there were 904 suspected cases of Ebola, mostly in northeastern Ituri province – a significant jump from the more than 700 suspected Ebola cases previously announced.
The ministry also said the total number of suspected Ebola deaths was 119, but the number released separately for each region came to 220. Officials could not be immediately contacted to clarify the discrepancy.
There is no vaccine available for Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola. It was not discovered for several weeks The first death was reported in Ituri – in late April, in the city of Bunia, the provincial capital – while officials tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came back negative.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that three of its volunteers had died from the outbreak in Maungawwalu. The agency said it believed three health workers contracted the virus while handling dead bodies as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola on March 27.
If confirmed, it would significantly push back Timeline of the outbreak.
___
Pronzuk reported from Dakar, Senegal.
<a href=