Ebola Deaths Pass 700 in Congo as WHO Warns Outbreak Spreading Faster Than Tracking, 80 Percent of Cases From Unknown Chains

Eighty percent of new Ebola cases in eastern Congo are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, the WHO's Chikwe Ihekweazu said Tuesday after returning from Bunia in Ituri province 123. As of Monday, Congolese authorities reported 1,926 total infections and 702 deaths across three provinces from the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, with additional cases confirmed in Uganda 1. Ihekweazu said many recent deaths occurred in people who died in their communities without reaching a health facility, and that treatment capacity in Bunia has grown to nearly 800 beds and lab capacity to 14 sites from one 1. A funding gap, attacks on health facilities, ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and community mistrust have hampered the response since the outbreak of the rare, vaccine and treatment-less Bundibugyo strain was declared in May, with the Africa CDC calling it the continent's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak 1. Healthcare workers at an Ebola treatment center in northeast Congo struck on Monday over unpaid salaries, disrupting patient access, before agreeing Tuesday to resume work on a 72-hour government payment pledge; the CDC said on July 11 that a US citizen working for a humanitarian organization in Congo had tested positive for the virus 1.