Drama in Africa: Patients infected with Ebola escaped from the hospital

News2 min čitanja

At least 25 Ebola patients have fled hospitals in Congo’s northeastern Ituri province after health facilities were targeted by at least three attacks, Mongbwal General Referral Hospital director Richard Lokodo said.

Lokodu said that the hospital where Ebola patients are being treated was attacked twice — once on Saturday and the second time yesterday — and that during both incidents, patients infected with Ebola escaped, reports Reuters.

“There is denial of the disease among the population, and some family members want to claim the bodies of people who are suspected or confirmed to be infected,” Lokodu said.

According to him, during the attack on the hospital on Saturday, one patient died trying to escape, while 18 Ebola patients managed to escape after “unidentified persons” set fire to the tents set up by the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, where the patients were isolated.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola as the third largest outbreak of the disease ever recorded, which is why a public health emergency has been declared, reports Tanjug.

Director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, previously stated that around 900 suspected cases of Ebola infection have been registered, while 101 cases have been laboratory confirmed.

Tedros also announced today that 220 deaths related to Ebola infection have been recorded.

(Vijesti.ba)

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