The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to an estimated 131 fatalities from 513 suspected cases, according to the country’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba.
Gatekeepers News reports that the new figures mark a significant increase from the earlier reported toll of 91 deaths out of 350 suspected cases linked to the outbreak in the country’s eastern region.
The World Health Organization has already declared the outbreak an international health emergency.
The current outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which no approved vaccine or specific treatment currently exists. Ebola outbreaks have killed more than 15,000 people across Africa over the past five decades.
“We have recorded roughly 131 deaths in total and we have around 513 suspected cases,” Kamba said during an interview with Congolese national television.
However, the minister cautioned that the figures remain provisional, noting that further investigations are required to determine whether all the suspected deaths were directly caused by Ebola.
The epicentre of the outbreak is located in Ituri province in northeastern Congo, near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan.
Authorities said the area’s status as a major gold-mining hub has contributed to frequent cross-border movement, increasing the risk of wider transmission.
The virus has already spread to neighbouring provinces and beyond the DRC’s borders.
Kamba disclosed that suspected cases have now been reported in Butembo, a commercial city in North Kivu province located about 200 kilometres from the outbreak’s epicentre.
Another confirmed case was also recorded in Goma, the provincial capital currently under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia.
“Unfortunately, the alert was slow to circulate within the community, because people thought it was a mystical illness, and so, as a result, the sick were not taken to the hospital,” Kamba said.
Health officials said only a limited number of laboratory tests have been conducted so far, meaning that many of the current figures are based largely on suspected cases rather than confirmed diagnoses.
