Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are grappling with a resurgent Ebola outbreak in the central Kasai province that has already claimed 42 lives out of 64 confirmed cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Wednesday.
Two weeks ago, the government launched a vaccination campaign targeting the highly lethal Zaire strain of the virus, which has a known vaccine.
The WHO estimates the outbreak carries a high risk of further spread nationally but only a moderate risk for neighboring countries.
“The outbreak is fueled by gaps in protective equipment, delayed detection, incomplete contact tracing and unsafe burial practices,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
He noted that widespread reliance on traditional healers and high population mobility in the country of over 100 million people further heightens the risk.
