WHO sees ‘encouraging signs’ in Congo Ebola fight but says cases in one eastern region are surging

GENEVA — The head of the U.N. health agency is hailing “encouraging signs” in the fight against an Ebola outbreak in one part of eastern Congo, while warning that case counts are rising fast in another as officials race to tamp down the virus.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said signs of progress against the Bundibugyo virus, the rare species behind the outbreak, have emerged in Ituri province, but added that the situation is one of “many outbreaks in many places.”

“We are now starting to see encouraging signs that we are gaining ground in the most affected parts of Ituri province. Transmission is going down,” the WHO chief told reporters at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

South Kivu, he said, has reported no new cases since May.

“But make no mistake, the epidemic continues to grow and continues to kill,” Tedros said. He said more than 7,200 cases and more than 3,500 deaths have been reported across seven provinces.

In North Kivu, “cases are rising fast,” Tedros said: The number of weekly cases has nearly doubled over the last two weeks, from about 100 to more than 200. “The area is so vast that it’s hard to speak of a single epidemic. It’s many outbreaks in many places.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director for epidemic and pandemic management, said: “We can be cautiously optimistic about what is happening, but I think we need to be realistic about the road that’s ahead of us. Looking at trends takes time.”

Last week, officials in Congo said the world’s fastest-growing outbreak of the disease on record had now spread to seven provinces in the African country, and was showing no signs of slowing down.