Kinshasa. While the Ebola outbreak is spreading in Africa, the number of people infected with the disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has exceeded 10,000.
According to the data released by the health authorities on Tuesday, since the outbreak began in May, 10,600 people have been infected and 4,887 have died as of October 25. According to this, the death rate among the confirmed infections is 48.6 percent.
The outbreak has spread to 66 health zones in eight of Congo’s 26 provinces, according to the report. The eastern province of Ituri has become the main center of this outbreak, where 71.7 percent of the total infected are.
On May 15, Congo declared an outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus. Since then, this outbreak has been seen in five countries. Apart from Congo, the infection has also spread in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, while one case of infection imported from outside was confirmed in France.
Unlike the more familiar Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain. This outbreak has become the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the report. It is reported that this is the second largest Ebola outbreak in the world after the epidemic that spread in West Africa from 2014 to 2016. RSS/Xinhua