BAFWASENDE, Congo — A nurse was killed and another health worker badly hurt on Saturday when protesters attacked them as they answered an Ebola alert in Bafwasende, a rural town in Tshopo province, UN officials said.
The injured health worker remains in hospital, according to UN News.
Julien Harneis, the UN’s senior Ebola response coordinator, called for an investigation into the attack. “I strongly condemn this attack and call for a thorough investigation,” he said. “I urge communities to protect health workers and allow them to carry out their work safely”.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’s director-general, sent condolences to the nurse’s family and wished the injured worker a swift and full recovery. “Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety,” he wrote on X. “Healthcare must always be protected.”
Dr. Mohamed Janabi, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, also condemned the violence. “Misinformation and fear must never fuel violence,” he wrote on X.
The attack came during Congo’s deadliest Ebola outbreak on record. More than 9,760 cases and some 4,727 deaths have been recorded in the country since the outbreak was declared on May 15, according to recent WHO figures.
The disease is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine. First reported in the east, the outbreak has now reached eight provinces: Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Sud Ubangi, Tshopo and Nord-Ubangi.
Responders have been attacked before during this outbreak. Tents at health centres were set alight in two separate attacks in a single week in May, The Associated Press reported, and last month a Congolese politician was beaten to death in North Kivu after he publicly backed the government’s Ebola response on a radio show.
Neighbouring countries are watching the outbreak closely. Nigeria confirmed its first case last week, a woman who had travelled from Uganda. She and her husband, a contact, were medically evacuated to Switzerland on Monday morning. Both are Swiss citizens, and the patient is clinically stable, the WHO said.
Nigeria will keep monitoring 52 contacts, Dr. Janabi said, while Switzerland takes over the patient’s care and follow-up of her husband. “Vigilance remains critical,” he said.
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