Africa CDC director warns Ebola outbreak could reach the UK

Response faces inadequate protective equipment, unpaid wages and aid cuts

On Wednesday, Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that the Bundibugyo virus outbreak could reach the UK and other countries. The outbreak had reached 10,091 cases and almost 5,000 deaths, and Kaseya said it was the first time three African regions had been affected by Ebola.

The current outbreak is the 17th in DR Congo since Ebola was identified. It was caused by the Bundibugyo virus and has become the country’s largest and deadliest. DR Congo’s health ministry declared an outbreak in Ituri province on May 15, although sequencing showed that it had begun in February.

The outbreak has spread to Kenya and Uganda in east Africa. Nigeria confirmed a case in its capital, Abuja, last week after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus. France is the only non-African country to have confirmed a case so far; the person was a doctor who returned from DR Congo in June.

Of the 10,091 cases, 10,060 occurred in DR Congo, where 4,887 people died. Two people have died in Uganda and two in Kenya.

An image showed a map of countries with active Ebola outbreaks at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Abuja. A photograph dated 12 October showed travellers at a hand-washing station in Busia on the Kenya-Uganda border, where health officials screen for Ebola symptoms. A photograph dated 22 October showed Red Cross staff simulating the evacuation of an Ebola victim’s remains in Nairobi.

Ebola is highly contagious, severe and often fatal. It spreads through direct contact with body fluids such as the blood or vomit of infected people or dead bodies, including during funeral preparations. The Bundibugyo virus has no approved treatment, though vaccine trials are under way. Kaseya said results should be available in three to six months.

Kaseya said: “Each country, not only in the African region, but all continents, must now increase the preparedness level and the possibility for treatment.” He added: “It is the first time three African regions have been affected [by Ebola]. The geographic extension of this outbreak is unprecedented.”

Kaseya said leaders around the world should realise that although the brunt of the health crisis was affecting Africa at the moment, the situation could change. “We want all countries to know that they are not safe if they don’t take appropriate measures,” he said.

He compared the outbreak with the Covid pandemic, which first took hold in China before spreading across the world, claiming millions of lives and ravaging health systems and economies. “We shouldn’t forget that at the beginning of Covid, many countries said there was zero risk of being affected, but a few months later, they became the hotspot,” Kaseya said. “We don’t want to see the UK and other countries become the hotspot.”

The response has been hampered by inadequate protective equipment and unpaid health-worker wages, which have led to strikes. Conflict in DR Congo, mistrust toward officials in affected areas, misinformation and global aid cuts have further complicated the response.

Kaseya will convene African health ministers on Wednesday to urge greater cross-border cooperation. He wants governments to introduce screening and testing for people coming from affected regions at points of entry and exit, saying: “The main message to ministers is that they have to understand they could be affected, and we don’t want them to be surprised by what could happen.”

At a meeting in November with African heads of state, Kaseya will call for a “corridor of peace” in conflict areas. “Currently, we have colleagues in Ituri who want to go and support the population, but they cannot because of insecurity,” he said. Kaseya told leaders: “I have to say to leaders, this outbreak is not for rebels, it’s not for the official army, it’s for everyone. Ebola can affect everyone … We need to come together to have a kind of agreement on how to protect each other.”

Kaseya called for a global effort to fund the response. He said governments had pledged $3bn (£2.3bn), but more than $2bn remained outstanding. African countries had committed $120m, he said, while the remainder was meant to come from international donors including the US, the UK and the EU. “We need this money now,” Kaseya said. “We must understand that failure to provide funding now to African countries [will result in more being spent] because the outbreak will continue to move. If we have other countries affected we’ll be talking about trillions of dollars because it will require a lot of support to stop this outbreak.”