Speaking to reporters in Geneva after returning from Bunia in eastern DRC\u2019s Ituri Province, at the heart of the outbreak, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of WHO<\/a>\u2019s Health\u00a0Emergencies\u00a0Programme, said that with close to 2,000 confirmed cases and more than 700 deaths across five provinces as of 11 July, the current outbreak is the third-largest ever.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve seen the fastest growth in a single month since the outbreak started and of all the Ebola<\/a> outbreaks that we have managed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last few days, we’ve seen some of the highest numbers of new infections in a single day,\u201d Dr Ihekweazu added, including over 80 cases confirmed in 24 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility or receiving care \u2013 which is what the WHO official described as \u201cthe most alarming finding\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite progress on diagnostics and high contact follow-up rates, \u201c80 per cent of new cases are outside our contact lists and so are coming to us from unknown chains of transmission,\u201d Dr Ihekweazu warned.<\/p>\n The current outbreak was declared two months ago almost to the day and WHO\u2019s modelling indicates that its scale could be \u201cat least two to four times\u201d the number of reported cases.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to imagine that this is a fire,\u201d Dr Ihekweazu said. \u201cThere’s something driving the fire in its heart, and it’s also expanding at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n While up to 95 per cent of all new Ebola cases come from Ituri Province where the outbreak started, the virus has very recently spread to two new provinces, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.<\/p>\n The WHO official outlined a two-pronged strategy for the response: continue pushing at the heart of the outbreak in Ituri and at the same time, \u201cunderstand the travel routes\u2026 and really map out where the risks are of new cases coming up\u201d.<\/p>\n Urging the international community not to be \u201cdespondent\u201d in the face of the disease\u2019s rapid spread, the WHO official insisted that the work was bringing results.<\/p>\n \u201cNow is not the time to drop the ball,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n Several therapeutics are undergoing clinical trials but there is no approved treatment for patients with the Bundibugyo species of Ebola yet. Still, chances of survival increase significantly with early supportive care.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must find the cases earlier, bring them into care as soon as possible\u201d to reduce transmission in the community and avoid staying behind the curve, Dr Ihekweazu said.<\/p>\n Asked about recent attacks on healthcare workers and facilities he explained that the solution lies in \u201cbeing open and transparent\u201d about the care being provided.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBefore any new centre is opened, we invite leaders of the community to see what is being done\u201d and to speak with the health care providers who have left their homes to support the response, he said.<\/p>\n Preventing attacks on healthcare relies on building community confidence in the new facilities and showing people that \u201cthey’re not going to be left alone – they’ll not only be treated, they’ll be offered food, they’ll have access to their families<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n As the struggle continues to stop the spread of Ebola in DRC, Dr Ihekweazu spoke of \u201cdissonance between the threats facing us and the efforts that we’re making to respond.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need the world to come together, not just out of charity or out of support for the DRC, but in our own enlightened best interest. The more we do right now, the better placed we will be in the future,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n The WHO official\u00a0mentioned that at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Member States are negotiating the key part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement<\/a>, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annexe,\u00a0which aims to ensure that genetic information on dangerous pathogens with pandemic potential is rapidly shared and vaccines and treatments are made available to developing countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why this matters Third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. Most new infections come from unknown transmission chains. Virus has spread beyond the original outbreak area. Early detection and global support are critical. Speaking to reporters in Geneva after returning from Bunia in eastern DRC\u2019s Ituri Province, at the heart of the outbreak, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive 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GLOBAL NEWS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Why this matters Third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. Most new infections come from unknown transmission chains. Virus has spread beyond the original outbreak area. Early detection and global support are critical. Speaking to reporters in Geneva after returning from Bunia in eastern DRC\u2019s Ituri Province, at the heart of the outbreak, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36288,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36286\/revisions\/36288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Known unknowns<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Therapeutic trials ongoing<\/h2>\n