Ebola Cases Top 800 in DRC as 3,000 Contacts Remain Untraced Across Uganda Border
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Jun 16
Ebola Cases Top 800 in DRC as 3,000 Contacts Remain Untraced Across Uganda Border
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jun 16
Summary
More than 800 confirmed Ebola cases were reported in Congo by Tuesday, about 300 more than last week, with WHO saying the outbreak is still expanding geographically.
About 3,000 contacts remain unaccounted for because health workers have followed only a little over half of known exposures, while community-reported deaths suggest undetected transmission is continuing.
In Ituri, security forces fired warning shots to stop residents from taking an Ebola victim's body home, underscoring how burial practices and public resistance are complicating containment.
Uganda had at least 19 confirmed cases and two deaths as of June 10, all imported from Congo, but officials say no new case has been reported there in 11 days.
Uganda's nearly 500-mile porous border with Congo remains the main risk, with family and cultural ties making a full shutdown 'almost impossible' even under official restrictions.