Archive photo (Photo: John Wessels/AFP).
The deadly outbreak of the ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) claimed the lives of more than 400 people this week, according to official figures released in that country on Thursday.
The highly contagious disease has led to 438 deaths among the 1,406 confirmed cases, which amounts to a death rate of just over 31% since the outbreak was announced in May.
Recently, Kisangani, the northeastern city, almost 600 km from the epicenter where the virus broke out, also reported its first case of the dreaded virus.
According to the national institute for public health’s latest report, a 24-year-old pregnant woman tested positive for the virus. The woman’s body was allegedly secretly transported by motorbike to Kisangani from Nia Nia in Ituri.
Kisangani is home to around 1.5 million inhabitants and is the capital of the DRC’s Tshopo province.
Meanwhile, the UN says the latest outbreak could jeopardize thousands of jobs and cost the country as much as $3.6 billion (about R66 billion). According to the UN’s development programme, the epidemic leads to a “far-reaching socio-economic crisis that could plunge almost a million more people into poverty”.
Women are expected to be the worst affected.
The UN Development Program warns that strict travel and trade restrictions, although intended as containment measures, can inadvertently destroy local economies and informal livelihoods.