Ebola risk raised to 'very high' in DR Congo | BBC News

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Scientists at Oxford University say a new Ebola vaccine that they're developing could be ready for clinical trials within months. It's designed to help tackle an outbreak of the disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The authorities there say Ebola cases have now been reported across several conflict hit eastern provinces. It's after the World Health Organization raised its risk assessment for the outbreak to very high. So far, the outbreak has resulted in 177 suspected deaths with 750 suspected cases recorded. The virus kills about a third of those infected. Provincial authorities in the worst affected province have banned funeral gatherings.

[00:00:40]This comes a day after relatives set fire to hospital tents and medical supplies after health workers refused to release a body because of the risk of contamination. These people in Kinshasa expressed their fears about the spread of Ebola in the east.

[00:01:01]>> I'm really afraid and hope it does not spread this far. There have already been many cases in the east. If it reaches Kenshasa, people could die in large numbers because it's spreading there due to precarious living conditions. And here in Kinshasa, our environment is very unsanitary. So if Ebola spreads here, given the high population, the heat and the already significant number of deaths in the east, if it spreads up to here, we will die in great numbers.

[00:01:33]>> I'm not afraid that Ebola will reach the city of Kinshasa, but it really is a virus that kills thousands of people. I don't want it to come here to Kinshasa as that would not be good. Yeah.

[00:01:43]>> Honestly, I'm afraid I'm scared. You know in our eastern part it's a little bit a little bit nasty. It's easier for young people.

[00:01:56]That's why I'm afraid about honestly honest I'm afraid.

[00:02:00]>> Our correspondent Richard Kaguy has been following developments and has more on the measures being taken by the congalles authorities to contain the outbreak. There are several um measures that the congalles authorities have uh enforced uh including the banning of funerals uh gatherings as you have mentioned uh because of the risk of possible uh transmission. Uh they've also increased surveillance uh especially at points of entry and also at the same time they have increased community engagement in terms of just increasing public education about the outbreak itself and how the local populations can be able to uh protect against uh you know contracting uh the virus. But that of course is a huge challenge especially for medical workers uh who are trying to contain the outbreak uh in the several provinces that you have mentioned in eastern Congo where people have been fleeing armed conflict and also at the same time there have been reported outbreaks within a very crowded urban centers and that's really made it very difficult. Also at the same time there have been uh challenges when it comes to equipment to fasttrack the processes of uh testing and also the shortage of medical supplies. But of course the World Health Organization has sent 11 tons of medical supplies to Bunia the epicenter of the outbreak and also at the same time we've seen increased funding with the announcement of about $60 million just to support efforts uh to contain the viral outbreak in the country. There's so many different challenges there that you mentioned just going through all of them and and not least the one uh main element is is is the trust and the the education of people, isn't it? It's such a a key challenge to get people to respond in a way that's working with the medical authorities, isn't it? That seems to be such a problem, doesn't it?

[00:03:51]>> Yeah, absolutely. Considering that this is the 17th outbreak in the country, over the years, a lot of the people within this particular area have always looked even at health workers and uh you know, humanitarian inter actors, you know, very uh suspiciously. A lot of them look at them as possible uh origins or the source of the outbreak itself.

[00:04:13]So, of course, there's that distrust between the population and also the uh medical uh workers at the same time. uh because if you look at how uh traditional practices are done when it comes to conducting burial so there's a lot of uh you know handling of bodies you know cleansing of the bodies themselves and so when now they're told by health workers that actually they cannot do this because of the risk of transmission that also creates a resentment at the same time there's lots of mis and disinformation about the outbreak itself and I think that's really made it very difficult uh for health workers to coordinate with the local population that's why you saw as you mentioned in the earlier um you know introduction that there was uh an incident at one of the isolation centers where one uh group attacked uh medical workers and also set uh fire to some of the tents that were used for purposes of isolation. So really quite a difficult challenge uh in really addressing this outbreak because of uh the levels of perceptions. There is one positive bit of news though, isn't there? And this news from Oxford University about a vaccine that they've been working on that may be ready to be starting tests in the next few months. Uh has that news filtered through much?

[00:05:30]>> Well, we just had from the WH's technical advisory team saying that that's being developed. you know scientist at Oxford University working with Serum Institute of India to develop a vaccine that would really help in terms of uh uh you know treating the budaboo strain of virus that's responsible for the outbreak but they say that's going to take I mean the earliest about 3 months uh but there's also consideration possibly for another vaccine that has been used to treat the uh ZA strain which is been responsible for several outbreaks there but they're saying it will take possibly 3 months then to conduct clinical trials and now possibly to roll this out between six to 9 months. So it's really still going to be a long wait before we get to that point.

[00:06:17]>> So what does the very high-risisk category mean? I've been speaking to Dr. Anne Ramo, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

[00:06:26]very high national risk means that the fire is spreading in a place where it's really hard to put out. And that's the problem in DRC that we've had uh an outbreak of Ebola spreading unchecked for several weeks. And so it's very very difficult to get in front of it at this point. And so this national risk assessment at the very highest level is demonstrating that you know we have chains of transmission that are happening throughout the country uh that we need to get in front of it. Uh and that the whole country is really um at risk of it spreading because Ebola travels through social networks and the travel and this country is very well connected and very vast.