DAKAR, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Attacks on health workers and facilities are increasingly hindering efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has killed more than 5,400 people, Africa’s top public health agency said on Thursday.
• The incidents included four armed attacks, 16 assaults on responders and 11 health facilities that were burned or otherwise targeted, Africa CDC’s Wessam Mankoula said at a press briefing on Thursday
• Attacks had become increasingly deadly since late September, he said
• An attack on Cantine-Aloya in North Kivu last week by the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group linked to Islamic State, killed 66 people, including three health workers, Mankoula said
• More than 1,000 contacts were lost to follow-up and three confirmed Ebola cases remain unaccounted for
• At a separate briefing, World Health Organization experts said continuing violence risked “reversing the progress made over the past six months”
• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that insecurity was now “one of the greatest obstacles” to the Ebola response, restricting humanitarian access, disrupting operations and making it harder to reach communities quickly
• The outbreak, which was declared on May 15, has infected 11,114 people and killed 5,433, according to Congolese government data
(Reporting by Clement Bonnerot; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Ros Russell)
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