Ebola Outbreak Much Larger Than Official Figures, WHO Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- The World Health Organization on Tuesday said the ongoing outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa is much larger than official figures suggest. The WHO is the UN's health agency.   

The current outbreak is concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 20 confirmed cases having been detected in neighboring Uganda. So far, the virus has infected almost 2,000 people and killed over 700, according to official figures. 

WHO faces funding shortfall amid battle to contain virus

"The scale of the outbreak is at least two to four times the number of cases that we have found," WHO emergencies director Chikwe Ihekweazu said during a media briefing in Geneva. Many of the cases are unrecorded.

Ihekwazu said the WHO received less than half of the $115 million (around €100 million) needed in the first six months to combat the ongoing outbreak. 

"This outbreak requires resources that match the scale of the challenges that we are facing. And this is not a burden DRC can be allowed to carry alone," Ihekweazu.  

Ihekweazu had just come back from a week-long visit to the DR Congo. The outbreak there is concentrated in Ituri Province in the northeast and the neighboring North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. 

The WHO official said the spread of the virus in the affected regions "continues to outpace response efforts by the national authorities, international partners, including WHO, and the communities most affected."

"Perhaps the most alarming finding is that many newly reported cases are individuals who died in their communities, without ever reaching a health facility and receiving care," Ihekweazu said.

He said that survival rates are higher for infected people who go to the hospital and the WHO is working to fight myths that hospital treatment for the virus is ineffective. Patients in the hospital are highly isolated, given intravenous (IV) fluids to stop dehydration and oxygen to support breathing.     

US tightens travels rules for citizens in DR Congo

The Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus was first discovered in Uganda. There is no cure or vaccine for the virus, which is often deadly. 

Countries around the world are implementing travel rules to prevent the virus from entering their borders.

The US on Monday said US citizens in the DR Congo would not be able to return home on commercial flights and would need to spend at least 21 days in a third country. Non-citizens who recently went to the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan would not be allowed to travel to the US at all, Reuters reported, citing a White House official.  

Read: Ebola Death Toll Tops 500 in DR Congo as Outbreak Worsens

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