A senior member of Congo’s ruling party was killed in a beating after taking part in a radio programme to raise awareness about the Ebola outbreak, reports Reuters – this as infections rise to more than 8 000 and nearly 4 000 deaths have been recorded.
The incident happened on Sunday in North Kivu province, which has recently become a hotspot in the ongoing outbreak.
Marie-Celestin Karondwa, acting president of the UDPS party’s federal executive committee and a party spokesperson, was attacked by residents of his neighbourhood after appearing on a radio show during which he promoted Ebola prevention measures, the UDPS federation said in a statement.
The attackers beat him, looted his belongings and set his house on fire. It was not immediately clear who had carried out the attack, how many were involved or what motivated it. But the party said Karondwa was “an innocent victim for having defended the party’s position on the existence of Ebola … and the threat it poses to the population”.
This was the latest in a series of attacks on Ebola response teams, underscoring persistent mistrust among the population.
On Saturday, armed men attacked a hand-washing checkpoint in nearby Beni territory, killing at least one person and wounding several others, a local civil society group reported.
Meanwhile, a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staffer has contracted the virus and is being evacuated to The Netherlands for treatment, the humanitarian organisation said last week.
The Dutch health ministry said the patient was an MSF doctor who had been deployed to Congo to help combat the outbreak and would be treated in a specialised isolation unit at the University Medical Centre in Leiden, outside Amsterdam.
The case comes as the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, has grown into the country’s largest and deadliest on record.
Government data released on Monday showed confirmed cases had surpassed 8 000 for the first time, reaching 8 067, while deaths stood at 3 901.
MSF, which is supporting the response in Ituri, North Kivu, Tshopo and Haut-Uélé provinces, said that despite extensive protective measures for staff, the risk of exposure could never be completely eliminated.
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