Ebola in Congo: death toll surpasses 4,000

The death toll from the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed the threshold of 4,000 deaths. According to data released by the Congolese Institut national de santé publique on October 2 and relayed the following day by the Agence de Presse Africaine, confirmed deaths stand at 4,018 out of 8,300 confirmed cases, with a case fatality rate of 48.4%.

The bulletin also reports 2,162 people recovered and 842 patients currently in isolation or hospitalized. The epidemic affects seven provinces of the country and spans 63 health zones, an area that attests to the geographic spread reached by the outbreak.

The case fatality rate indicated places the episode among the most severe monitored by health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, although the Institut national de santé publique bulletin does not, at this stage, provide a direct comparison with previous epidemics in the country. The figure of 48.4% should be read together with the number of confirmed cases, 8,300, on which the calculation is based: a figure that the Congolese health authorities themselves present as provisional, subject to revision as epidemiological surveillance continues on the ground.

The spread across seven provinces and 63 health zones makes containment work complex: the number of patients still in isolation, 842 according to the bulletin, indicates that the acute phase of the epidemic has not yet subsided. The comparison between recovered (2,162) and deceased (4,018) also shows how, at the current state of the data released, the share of those who do not survive the infection remains higher than that of those who recover, a ratio that Congolese health authorities will continue to update in upcoming bulletins.

The number of health zones involved, 63, indicates that the outbreak is not confined to a limited area but extends across a broad territory, with direct implications for the logistics of health interventions and the monitoring of new cases in the weeks ahead.