Rioters have burnt down hospital tents in a hotspot of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola epidemic, as many Congolese wrestle with fear, anger and confusion over the latest deadly outbreak.
The hastily arranged burials of the victims suspected to have been killed by the viral haemorrhagic fever have been met with suspicion in a conflict-ridden part of the country already distrustful of the state.
With tensions running high, the military has been deployed to provide security for funerals.
Tents used to isolate Ebola patients at Rwampara hospital, in the northeastern Ituri province at the outbreak’s epicentre, were torched in the riot on Thursday, which ended swiftly after the army stepped in. Only the tents’ charred husks remain.
“It all kicked off when a 24-year-old man, the son of a soldier, died at the hospital,” an official at the medical institution said.
