Protesters in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) started a fire at a medical facility treating Ebola patients on Thursday, destroying two hospital tents, a local politician told CNN.
Tensions escalated on Thursday after relatives of a young man who died of Ebola tried to remove his body “by force” from Rwampara hospital, said Luc Mambele, deputy leader of Congo’s A2RC political party.
A deadly Ebola strain has struck communities in the region, triggering a global health emergency. Tests revealed that the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no specific treatment or vaccine, was behind the outbreak. The DRC announced Wednesday that at least 148 deaths are believed to be linked to the disease.
When health officials refused access to the young man’s body, his family responded by throwing projectiles at the hospital tent, starting a fire, local officials said.
At the time of the attack, the six patients were being treated at the Alliance for Medical Action International (ALIMA) medical tent and are now being treated at a hospital, ALIMA said in a statement.
The medical humanitarian organization warned against the spread of “inaccurate or unverified information circulating on social media and the internet” that is likely to incite fear, misinformation and distrust of health facilities.
In a video shared with CNN, Mambele described being trapped in a hospital as police fired warning shots to disperse protesters from a burning tent.
Reuters video showed massive fire engulfing a medical tent with charred skeletons standing above hospital beds, blackened in the aftermath of the attack.
Mambele told CNN that National Police officers dispatched to the scene quickly worked to restore order.
Democratic Republic of Congo spokesman Patrick Muyaya condemned the attack, telling CNN that locals responded by doing “exactly what they should not do.”
Mambele said the incident exemplified the danger of growing misinformation within the community. Many residents of Ituri state believe that “Ebola is a lie,” he told CNN.
“The population is not well-informed or aware of what is going on. For people in the most remote communities, Ebola is a white man’s invention and does not exist,” Mambele said.
The World Health Organization has officially declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern,” but the global risk remains low.
There are only 51 officially confirmed cases of Ebola, but 575 people are suspected of having the disease, the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced on Wednesday. Health authorities are also tracing more than 800 contacts in the country.
The first suspected case was a health worker who started showing symptoms on April 24 and later died at a health facility in Bunia, WHO reported. By May 5, the organization was notified of an “unidentified disease” linked to high mortality rates in the state. After an investigation by the Rapid Response Team on May 13, the source of the outbreak was identified as Bundibugyo virus on May 15.
Germany’s Health Ministry announced Wednesday that an American citizen who worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has tested positive for the virus and is currently being treated in a hospital in Berlin.
The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, where health authorities have confirmed two laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus, one of which has died, in the capital Kampala. Uganda’s Ministry of Health later announced that the woman had twice tested negative for Ebola and was “now out of danger.”
Public transport, flights and ferries between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been suspended and border security patrols have been stepped up, the Ministry of Health said.
