Africa CDC says Ebola outbreak still out of control six months since it was declared

By Jessica Donati

DAKAR, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Africa's top public health agency said on Sunday that the Ebola outbreak in Congo was still out of control six months after it was declared, citing problems including deadly attacks on health workers, unpaid staff and a lack of resources.

"We are all in agreement today to say that this outbreak is still serious, and is still not under control," Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa CDC, told Reuters in an interview.

Since the outbreak was announced on May 15, over 11,200 infections and 5,500 deaths have been reported, according to government data.

Over 80% of new cases emerge outside contact lists and over 65% of deaths occur in the community outside health centers, Kaseya said. Ebola is most contagious during the late stages of the disease.

"If we don't stop this outbreak now, it would be the worst Ebola outbreak that the world will have," he continued.

The ​outbreak, driven by the rare Bundibugyo species of the ​virus, is the second-largest on record after a West African Ebola outbreak in 2014-16, which infected over 28,600 people and over killed more than 11,000.

MONEY MISSING IN HOTSPOTS

Despite an outpouring of aid pledges, help is still not reaching hotspots, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said this week, pointing to untrained staff, ambulances without fuel and a lack of surveillance teams.

Kaseya said coordination between Congo's government and donors remained a problem. In all, some $2.9 billion has been pledged.

"We are not pointing fingers," he said. "We are saying it's a collective failure."

He called on donors to release around $1.6 billion in pledged aid and work closely with Kinshasa to ensure money isn't wasted through duplication.

Kaseya acknowledged some health workers hadn't been paid for months and said Congo's government was working to digitize the payroll.