ADDIS ABABA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A total of 34 health workers have been infected with the Ebola virus so far, among whom seven died and six recovered, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
At a joint virtual press conference by the Africa CDC and the WHO on Friday, Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said that some 397 cases have been laboratory-confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with 381 in the DRC and 16 in Uganda. The death toll from confirmed cases has now reached 63, including one in Uganda.
He added that eight patients have been discharged from treatment facilities after recovering from the disease, including six in the DRC and two in Uganda.
Kaseya said that Ituri Province in eastern DRC is currently the epicenter of the outbreak, representing 90 percent of confirmed cases and 76 percent of deaths.
Against the backdrop of the worsening outbreak, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi on Friday appointed Kasongo Mulumba Batoka Gaby as the new military governor of Ituri Province.
Meanwhile, the Africa CDC and the WHO highlighted major operational challenges, including a lack of available medical countermeasures to the Bundibugyo Ebola strain, weak health infrastructure, and pressure on health systems already battling multiple health emergencies, with resource constraints, high population mobility, insecurity and displacement, health worker infections, and misinformation and mistrust further compounding the situation.
To better coordinate efforts to contain the outbreak, the two institutions, during the press conference, launched a continental Ebola outbreak preparedness and response plan, aiming to raise 518 million U.S. dollars to support African countries to prepare for, rapidly detect and respond to the outbreak for the period between June and November.
