Daily Tribune
RACE against the outbreak Medical workers in full protective gear transport a patient at a hospital in Rwampara as the Democratic Republic of the Congo battles its latest Ebola outbreak, which the World Health Organization says has claimed 139 lives from nearly 600 probable cases, many in the conflict-hit and hard-to-reach Ituri province.
Seros Muyisa / Agence France-Presse
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GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has now claimed 600 lives, figures published by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed Thursday — only three days after the figure topped 500.
Updated numbers issued by the United Nations health agency showed there have been 1,759 confirmed cases in DRC since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, including 600 confirmed deaths.
Two other people have died in neighboring Uganda, where 17 patients have recovered out of 20 total confirmed cases.
The WHO’s figures for the DRC, which come from the health authorities in the vast country, show that the outbreak there has a case fatality rate of 34 percent.
A total of 285 patients in the DRC have recovered, while 304 suspected cases of the viral hemorrhagic fever are under investigation.
The outbreak in northeastern DRC has hit four provinces but is focused on Ituri province.
