People set fire to an Ebola treatment centre in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer told The Associated Press, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain.
The arson attack reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in adequate health facilities and where many people are on the move to escape armed conflicts.
The bodies of those who die from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from victims’ families and friends.
There were 160 suspected deaths and 671 suspected cases in the DRC’s two provinces, Congolese authorities said on Thursday. Earlier in the week, the UN said there were two cases including one death in neighbouring Uganda.
The World Health Organisation, however, has said the outbreak is almost certainly much larger and has also expressed concern over the speed of the spread.
AP
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