Residents set fire to a treatment facility in Rwampara after being denied a body, as WHO raises national risk assessment to "very high."
5:56 PM
People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, according to a witness and a senior police officer.
The arson attack destroyed two tents used to treat Ebola patients at Rwampara Hospital, according to the international medical organization ALIMA. Six patients who were being treated in those emergency facilities were relocated and remain under care at the hospital.
Gunshots could be heard near the facility during the incident, and local residents were seen chasing away and hitting a white four-wheel drive vehicle commonly used by NGOs in the area. Police responded by firing warning shots and deploying tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The attack reflects growing fear and anger among residents over a health crisis that medical workers are struggling to contain. ALIMA warned that the incident poses danger to human life and has resulted in the destruction of essential medical equipment needed to provide safe care to patients during what the organization described as an especially critical epidemic.
The outbreak centers on the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare variant for which no approved vaccine currently exists. As of Friday, the World Health Organization reported approximately 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths across Congo and Uganda linked to the outbreak. The WHO confirmed 82 cases in Congo with seven confirmed deaths, though officials said the actual epidemic in the country is likely much larger.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the outbreak is "spreading rapidly" and announced the agency had raised its risk assessment to "very high" at the national level within Congo. The risk of spread remains high within the region and low at global levels, he told reporters.
The WHO declared an Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, with 80 deaths reported.
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