GENEVA — Efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo are showing early results, according to United Nations officials. However, they stressed Tuesday that the outbreak remains massive and will require several months to fully control. Government figures released Tuesday confirmed 7,258 cases and 3,510 deaths across seven provinces.
The current outbreak is the second most lethal on record globally, following the West African epidemic from 2014 to 2016.
Julien Harneis, the U.N. special Ebola coordinator, told a press briefing in Geneva that the situation presents a mixed picture. "It remains a deadly and massive epidemic," Harneis said, adding that while there are "some areas of progress," other regions "continue to see growth in cases."
Olivier le Polain of the World Health Organization echoed this cautious assessment, saying it is "too early to confidently say we have passed a peak." He emphasized that containing the outbreak fully "will take many, many months" and "will require significant support."
Congo Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba reported "encouraging signs" in the fight against the virus on Saturday. He noted that transmission "has been gradually slowing down" since the epidemic's peak in mid-August.
Daily new cases have decreased from approximately 120 at the peak to around 80, Kamba said. Ten of the 62 health zones affected by the outbreak have recorded no new cases for more than 22 days.
"These figures are a positive sign," Kamba said. "They demonstrate that the efforts deployed on the ground are yielding results and that our response strategy is beginning to bend the transmission curve."
Kamba urged continued vigilance among response teams. "We must remain fully mobilized," he said, cautioning that "while these results are encouraging, they must not lead us to lower our guard."
Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research, offered a positive assessment from Ituri province, where the first cases were recorded. The situation there has improved considerably, he said.
"Here in Ituri, the indicators are turning green, whereas they were previously all red," Muyembe said. "We are not saying that we have ended the epidemic, but we are saying that the response teams have the situation under control." He expressed hope that the epidemic would be "behind us" by year's end.
U.N. officials on Tuesday confirmed progress in parts of Ituri, which remains the most affected province, with the outbreak now "under control" in some specific areas. However, cases are still rising rapidly in North Kivu, particularly in the city of Butembo.
Harneis underscored the localized nature of the crisis. "It's such a vast epidemic that it's difficult to talk about one epidemic," he said. "There are rather many different locations experiencing distinct dynamics."
Le Polain reiterated a critical lesson from past outbreaks. He warned that an "epidemic can show early signs of improvement and then pick up again quite quickly," urging sustained global attention and resources.
