Ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is hampering the Ebola outbreak response, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Ituri province in the east of the country was at the centre of a “catastrophic collision of disease and conflict”.
In a statement posted on X, Tedros said the WHO could not “build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling”. He is due to travel to DR Congo this week to spearhead efforts to contain the virus.
Meanwhile Uganda has announced it is temporarily closing its border with DR Congo. There have been 220 suspected deaths since the outbreak was declared.
Aid workers have been struggling as travel is difficult because of poor road conditions while conflict and mass displacement have also weakened the health system – as have international aid cuts.
Ituri, where most of the cases have been reported, has been under military rule since 2021, when the civilian authority was replaced by a military general in an attempt to neutralise dozens of armed groups that operate there.
Tedros said stopping transmission in the region “depends entirely on humanitarian access”.
“Yet ongoing clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors,” he added.
“Frontline workers are risking everything, while attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.”
He called on all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire to allow medical teams safe access.
Concerns over the possible spread of the Ebola outbreak have spurred more countries into imposing strict travel restrictions.
On Wednesday, Uganda said its border closure would take effect immediately. Only essential workers – including medical and humanitarian workers, food transporters and security personnel – would be allowed to cross under strict conditions.
Canada has announced a 90-day entry ban for residents from DR Congo and neighbouring Uganda and South Sudan. The Bahamas also imposed strict rules meaning foreign nationals from those countries face quarantine or isolation measures.
Last week the US banned non-citizens who had travelled to any of the three countries from entering.
The Congolese health authorities say around 1,000 people are currently showing symptoms consistent with Ebola.
The DR Congo country director for the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has told the BBC it will take several weeks to get proper infrastructure in place to contain the outbreak.
This outbreak is a rare strain of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo, for which there are no vaccines or medicines.
DR Congo health authorities have been struggling to confirm cases of the 220 deaths. Only 17 people so far have been confirmed by lab tests as having died from the disease.
Medics are also facing a race against time to trace 3,600 people identified as contacts of the infected group.
Some 2,000 tests have been distributed, with a further 4,000 due to be sent out. Experimental treatments – including an antibody developed in the US – could also be introduced soon.
Ewald Stals, MSF director in DR Congo, said the group and other charities were working to get medical supplies and workers in to the epicentre of the crisis but insecurity and poor transport links in Ituri province made it difficult.
“We’re still far behind having a control on the situation,” he told the BBC. “We still do not have a full picture of what is happening, and that is mainly due to insufficient testing.
“As long as that is the case, we can say that the virus is still ahead of us.”
On Wednesday morning the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said it would be increasing its presence on the ground.
The ECDC said more of its experts would be deployed via the EU Health Task Force.
Additional reporting by Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa and Barbara Plett Usher in Nairobi
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