The horrific Ebola outbreak that has rocked the Democratic Republic of the Congo has just hit a ghastly benchmark.
The confirmed death count has now hit 1,000 since August 2018, the African nation’s health minister announced Friday.
Congo health minister Oly Ilunga told The Associated Press that four recent deaths in the outbreak’s epicenter of Katwa propelled the death toll to 1,008.
Ilunga added on Friday that aggression directed at health workers continues to hinder efforts to contain the second-deadliest virus outbreak.
“I am deeply saddened to learn that the number of Ebola deaths has exceeded 1,000,” said Butembo resident Vianney Musavuli. “The problem is that people here in this area believe Ebola is a political thing, and that’s why residents are still attacking the teams in retaliation.”
The contagion, which was declared nine months ago, trails only the lethal 2014-16 outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia that claimed the lives of more than 11,000 victims.
Security difficulties and community mistrust have stymied efforts to control the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo. Treatment centers are under repeated attack, leaving government health officials to staff clinics in the hotspots of Butembo and Katwa.
International aid organizations stopped their work in the two communities because of the violence. A Cameroonian epidemiologist working with the World Health Organization was killed in April during a Butembo hospital assault.
Since January, there have been 42 sieges on the nation’s health facilities, said World Health Organization health emergencies chief Michael Ryan, who added that at least 85 health workers have been either murdered for injured.
So far, more than 109,000 people have received an experimental yet effective Ebola vaccine.
