Angry crowd sets Ebola hospital tents on fire in DR Congo
Residents of Bunia in Ituri province torched a treatment centre amid distrust in the outbreak response. The incidents directly threaten the emergency public-health operation aimed at containing the virus.
According to the BBC, a crowd gathered on the morning of 21 May in Bunia and set fire to Ebola treatment tents set up by the World Health Organization and its partners. Two health workers suffered minor injuries; military support was requested to secure the area.
The protests stem from a death toll that the WHO raised to 139 yesterday, distrust in outbreak management and institutional mistrust from years of M23 armed conflict in the region. Some local leaders are questioning the disease's existence and claim that medication brought from abroad should be blamed for fatalities.
WHO Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti said the incidents pose an acute life-threatening risk and highlighted the threat of delays to the vaccination programme. The Ebola vaccine has been unavailable for the past nine months and a new formulation effective against this outbreak is expected to take at least six more months. The DRC government issued statements calling for calm.
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