Health workers fighting the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo are threatening to go on "a full-scale strike" over unpaid wages, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday the extent of the epidemic could be four times larger than reported.
The highly infectious virus has killed more than 700 people among the nearly 2,000 confirmed infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the outbreak was declared on May 15, according to the latest official toll published on Tuesday.
But the WHO said the scale of the outbreak could be two to four times the official estimates.
Complicating the response effort, health workers at the epicentre of the epidemic told AFP they had not been paid since the virus was detected.
At the Ebola treatment centre in Rwampara — one of the worst-hit areas at the epicentre of the outbreak in the northeastern province of Ituri — health workers burned tyres in protest on Monday and temporarily blocked access to the centre.
