New attack on hospital with Ebola patients occurs in Congo; 18 suspected cases disappeared

Relatives of an Ebola victim mourn as the coffin is carried for burial at Sofepadi Hospital in Bunia, Congo.
Moses Sawasawa / AP
Youths stormed a hospital treating Ebola patients, at the epicenter of the latest outbreak of the disease in eastern Congo, on Sunday night (24), forcing medical staff to hastily evacuate patients as gunshots rang out in the area.
This It was the third such attack in less than a week in the country. It was not immediately known whether anyone was injured in the attack on Mongbwalu General Hospital, but Dr. Richard Lokudu, the hospital's medical director, told The Associated Press that the attackers demanded that two bodies of their relatives be handed over to them.
There was an exchange of gunfire and paramedics were trying to evacuate patients and staff, Lokudu said by phone.
"Mongbwalu General Hospital is on high alert," he added. He had no further details about the ongoing mayhem.
The attack is the third in a week against healthcare facilities where medical professionals face difficulties due to a lack of resources to treat suspected cases of Ebola.
Oxford scientists develop vaccine against new Ebola outbreak
The bodies of those who have died from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread of the disease as people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals.
In response to the outbreak, the Congolese authorities have determined that the dangerous work of burying suspected victims is carried out, whenever possible, by the authorities, which could generate protests from family and friends.
On Friday (22), the government announced a ban on wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people in northeastern Congo, in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
On Saturday (23), a group of residents of Mongbwalu, located in the province of Ituri, attacked and set fire to a tent set up by the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders for suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola.
During the attack, 18 people with suspected Ebola infection have left the facility and are now missing, Lokudu said earlier.
On Thursday (21), another treatment center, in the town of Rwampara, was set on fire after family members were prevented from retrieving the body of a local man, suspected of having died of Ebola.
Sanitation workers from the Bunia town government spray disinfectant in the central market area, near a garbage truck, in Ituri province, as they continue efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in Bunia
AP/Moses Sawasawa
The WHO said the outbreak poses a "very high" risk to Congo, an improvement from the previous "high" rating. But the organization emphasizes that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.
Earlier on Sunday, the Ministry of Communications of the Congolese Republic reported, through Channel X, that there were 904 suspected cases of Ebola, the majority in the province of Ituri, in the northeast of the country. It is a significant increase from the more than 700 suspected Ebola cases previously announced.
The ministry also said the total number of suspected Ebola deaths was 119, but the figures released separately for each region totaled 220.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that three of its volunteers had died as a result of the outbreak in Mongbwalu. The organization believes the three health workers contracted the virus on March 27 while handling bodies on a non-Ebola-related humanitarian mission.
If confirmed, this would significantly delay the timeline of the outbreak.
WHO raises risk level
The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the risk level of the outbreak in Congo from "high" to "very high."

Despite this, the body considers the risk of global spread of the disease to be low.
Motorcycle taxi drivers and their passengers wait at the entrance to the central market while sanitation teams disinfect the area, amid the fight against the Ebola outbreak in the province of Ituri, in Bunia, Congo, on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
AP/Moses Sawasawa
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that 82 cases and seven deaths have already been confirmed in the country, but he warned that the real number could be significantly higher.
This is because the Bundibugyo variant circulated for weeks without being identified. The first patients tested negative for the most common strain of Ebola, which delayed confirmation of the outbreak.
Currently, authorities are monitoring around 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, numbers that still depend on laboratory confirmation.
Rare variant has no vaccine
The Bundibugyo strain is one of the rarest forms of Ebola and, unlike the Zaire variant - responsible for previous outbreaks and for which it exists vaccine-, it does not yet have an approved vaccine.
An urban cleaning worker from Bunia prefecture sprays chlorine to disinfect the central market, as Ituri province continues to combat an Ebola outbreak
AP/Moses Sawasawa
The director-general of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya, said that the response to the outbreak depends not only on medical measures, but also on rebuilding trust between authorities and local communities.
The International Federation of Diseases Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported this Saturday that three volunteers died after contracting the virus in Mongbwalu during body removal operations carried out in March.
According to the entity, this indicates that the virus may have started circulating weeks before the first officially recognized death, recorded at the end of April in the city of Bunia, capital of Ituri province.
*With information from the Associated Press.

Source: G1

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