Nearly 300 people who tested positive for Ebola unaccounted for in DRC

Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa CDC, said the whereabouts of 297 people who tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are unknown. He warned that a humanitarian crisis and fighting in affected areas have left more than 1 million people living in camps where health workers cannot gain access.

World Health Organization modelling published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases projects about 8,210 cases and 1,420 deaths by mid‑September and gives a 70% chance the outbreak could spread to neighbouring South Sudan. To date there have been 1,118 confirmed cases and 291 deaths in the DRC, and 20 cases with two deaths in Uganda.

France announced a doctor who had been working in the DRC tested positive on his return; his employer, Alima, said it was investigating. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain and is the largest on record five weeks after declaration. At the same stage of the west Africa epidemic in 2014–16 there were 239 cases and 160 deaths.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

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