DR Congo Ebola cases top 7,000 as deaths near 3,400
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has surpassed 7,000, with nearly 3,400 deaths recorded, according to the latest government situation report released Friday.
As of Sept. 10, health authorities had confirmed 7,022 cases and 3,398 deaths, putting the case fatality rate at 48.4%. A total of 1,671 patients have recovered, Xinhua reported.
The outbreak has spread to 62 health zones across seven provinces. Sud-Ubangi became the latest affected province after local authorities confirmed a case there on Thursday. The patient, a 23-year-old man who had traveled from South Kivu province, later died.
Sud-Ubangi does not share a border with any of the six provinces where Ebola cases had previously been confirmed: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo and Bas-Uele.
The current outbreak, declared in May, has become the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in the DRC’s history and the second-largest recorded worldwide, behind the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
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