CONGO – Mahigit 2,500 katao ang namatay dahil sa outbreak ng Ebola sa Democratic Republic of Congo, ayon kay senior United Nations Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis nitong Biyernes, Agosto 21.
Dahil dito ay nanawagan si Harneis ng mas marami pang tulong at sinabing ang kasalukuyang pondo ay kayang tumakbo ng ilang linggo na lamang.
Dagdag sa kanilang suliranin ay ang mga residenteng galit na at natatakot sa outbreak.
Ang ika-17 Ebola epidemic ng Congo ang pinakamalaki sa kasaysayan sa dami ng kaso na lumampas pa sa matinding outbreak na naitala sa bansa noong 2018 hanggang 2020.
“The Ebola outbreak is growing exponentially,” sinabi ni Harneis.
“The epidemic is spreading to an area that is bigger than France, and the outbreak is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response. And all of this is happening in an area that has had three decades of conflict and is generating huge humanitarian needs.”
May 160 healthcare workers na rin ang tinamaan ng Ebola at 43 sa mga ito ang namatay.
“And then, when we do respond, apart from the threat from the virus, healthcare workers and frontline workers have been attacked by youths, ambulances have been burned and stoned, and the healthcare facilities have been attacked,” sinabi pa nito.
“Fear translates into angry young men who start throwing stones at their object of fear, the ambulance,” dagdag ni Harneis. RNT/JGC
