Ebola death toll exceeds 5,000

 

TT-AFP

 

Published 17:31

 

Healthcare workers at a treatment unit for Ebola patients in Beni, northeastern Congo. File photo. Photo: Sebastien Kitsa Musayi/AP/TT

More than 5,300 people have died in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, with the highest number of deaths recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

According to the latest figures compiled by the Africa CDC, the Ebola epidemic has claimed 5,376 lives—the majority of which were recorded in the DRC, with two deaths in neighboring Uganda and two in Kenya.

A total of 10,444 cases of Ebola have been confirmed since the epidemic began in the DRC in mid-May of this year. The mortality rate is just over 50 percent.

The virus crossed national borders several times during October; notably, the first case was recorded in Nigeria.

The current outbreak of the Ebola virus—also known as a hemorrhagic fever—involves the Bundibugyo strain.