Free Republic

The rapid spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has created a "deeply alarming" situation, the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned. Speaking two weeks on from the outbreak being declared, MSF Deputy Director Dr Alan Gonzales said never before had "so many cases" been recorded so soon. His comments came as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited the eastern Congolese province of Ituri - the worst-hit area - to oversee virus containment efforts. There are now more than 1,000 suspected Ebola cases in the DR Congo, and at...

World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday evening, seeking to support the medical response to the fast-growing outbreak of Ebola Bundibugyo. W.H.O. said on Friday the outbreak now includes 906 suspected infections and 223 suspected deaths. “To come here is to really show to the community that they’re not alone. Pushing orders from my comfortable office in Geneva is easy, but I’m asking my colleagues to work with the community and I am asking communities to protect themselves,” Tedros told reporters upon his arrival in the DRC. The...

LONDON -- The New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization warned on Tuesday that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring Uganda is now spreading faster than responders can contain it and risks becoming "the deadliest on record" without urgent international action. What is especially alarming, the IRC said, is that the outbreak is no longer limited to remote areas of the DRC's northeastern province of Ituri, the epicenter of the current epidemic. Cases and contacts are now spreading into larger regional hubs, the IRC warned, including the major city of Goma...

At least 220 people are now suspected to have died from the ongoing Ebola outbreak, the head of the World Health Organization said Monday, according to the Reuters news agency. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that because of a delay in detecting cases, health workers were now "playing catch-up." The announcement came as Ugandan health authorities reported two new Ebola cases Monday, bringing the number of infections there to seven, after the number of suspected cases in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo surpassed 900. All the cases are linked to the Congo outbreak, which appears to have started several...

Angry young men stormed a hospital treating Ebola patients at the heart of the latest outbreak of the disease in eastern Congo on Sunday evening, forcing the medical staff to scramble to evacuate the patients as gunfire rang out in the area. It was not immediately known if anyone was hurt in the attack on the Mongbwalu General Hospital but Dr. Richard Lokudu, the hospital’s medical director, told The Associated Press the attackers demanded that two bodies of their relatives be handed over to them. There was gunfire and the medics were trying to evacuate the patients and the staff,...

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that the global risk from the disease remained low. The World Health Organization has raised its public health risk from the Ebola outbreak from "high" to "very high" in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In an update on Friday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the agency, said 82 cases had so far been confirmed in the country, with seven confirmed deaths. "But we know the epidemic in the DRC is much larger," Ghebreyesus said, adding that there were around 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths. The Director-General said the global...

Congo's team must isolate for 21 days or risk the ability to enter the U.S. for the World Cup as the country deals with an outbreak of Ebola, said Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, to ESPN on Friday. Giuliani said the U.S. has told FIFA, the Congolese national team and the Congolese government that the team must maintain a bubble in Belgium, where it is currently training and is scheduled to play two warmup games. "We've been very clear to Congo that they should maintain the integrity of their bubble...

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Congo banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more 50 people Friday in an effort to curb a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in a region where medical workers have struggled with a lack of resources and pushback from angry residents. The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that...

An Ebola treatment center in the epicenter of the deadly outbreak in eastern Congo was set on fire Thursday after angry residents clashed with authorities over the body of a suspected victim. Rwampara Hospital was attacked by local youths attempting to retrieve the body of a friend who had reportedly died of Ebola, a witness told The Associated Press. "The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful," Alexis Burata, a local student who said he was in the area, told the outlet. "The young people ended up setting fire to the center. That’s the...

The American doctor who contracted Ebola and was transferred to Germany is starting to feel better and is able to eat, according to his colleague. Dr. Peter Stafford is currently hospitalized in Berlin's Charite University Hospital after testing positive for the disease due to his work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His colleague, Matt Allison -- the executive director of Serge, the Christian missionary group Stafford works for -- told ABC News that the doctor has been receiving monoclonal antibodies during his hospitalization. Allison said it appears Stafford's condition has improved since landing in Germany and that he...

By the time an American surgeon who contracted Ebola in Congo was flown to Germany for treatment Tuesday, he was barely able to stand on his own, according to two leaders of the Christian missionary group with which he worked. Dr. Scott Myhre, East and Central Africa area director for the group Serge, described the scene as Dr. Peter Stafford departed. “There were people in full — we call it PPE — the personal protective equipment, and they’re completely covered, and he’s hanging on them barely strong enough to walk,” Myhre said. “He looked really tired and really sick.” Stafford,...

Singapore is taking additional steps to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus into Singapore, said the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA). In a press release on Tuesday (May 19), the agency said that it is closely monitoring the outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda after the World Health Organisation (WHO) on May 16 declared the outbreak an international health emergency. While there are no direct flights from Congo and Uganda to Singapore, CDA said that Singapore will enhance existing measures for the early detection and management of the disease. From...

At least 131 people are believed to have died and 531 infected in the outbreak, according to health authorities in central Africa. An American missionary was among those who tested positive for the deadly disease. VIDEO AT LINK.......... The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in central Africa rose sharply Tuesday, with the head of the World Health Organization expressing concern over the “scale and speed of the epidemic.” At least 131 people are believed to have died and 531 suspected to have been infected in the latest outbreak, according to the Congolese Health Ministry. An American missionary was among...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern. The agency said the outbreak in DR Congo's eastern Ituri province, which has seen around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths reported, does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency. But it warned it could potentially be "a much larger outbreak" than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant risk of local and regional spread. The current strain of Ebola is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the health agency said, for which there are...

In Africa an ebola outbreak reported with 65 deaths... Air raid alerts and explosions in several cities in Ukraine... US federal prosecutors attempting to indict Cuban officials including former president... An Iraqi national suspecting of ordering attacks in Europe arrested... Six killed including three paramedics in an Israeli air attack in southern Lebanon... Israel says it killed a top Hamas commander linked to... US President Donald Trump with a statement on Taiwan opposing Taiwan independence from China... The US Supreme Court deciding not to overturn a Virginia... In Colorado Democrat Governor Jared Polis commuting the sentence of election worker Tina...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is quitting the Opec and Opec+ groups of major oil producing nations next month after nearly 60 years of membership. The UAE said its decision would help it meet growing global energy demand in the long term after recent investments to boost its production capacity. It is seen as a blow to the cartel, with one analyst describing the exit as "the beginning of the end of Opec". The Gulf state's energy minister said being a country with no obligation under the groups would give it more flexibility. Opec was formed in 1960 by five...

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will exit OPEC on May 1. “This decision follows a comprehensive review of the UAE’s production policy and its current and future capacity and is based on our national interest and our commitment to contributing effectively to meeting the market’s pressing needs,” the UAE energy ministry said in a statement.

A group of Congolese refugees was seen protesting in Washington, DC, on Monday, calling on the US to increase its involvement in addressing violence in central Africa, despite data showing thousands from the region have already been resettled in the US in recent years. According to reporting from the Daily Caller News Foundation, Congolese Tutsi demonstrators marched near the White House to protest against the governments of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Activists accused both governments of carrying out anti-Tutsi violence and called on US officials to take stronger action. One protester held a sign that read...

Up to 60 Christians were massacred by Islamists in the province of Ituri, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on April 1. A source affiliated to Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) reported that its fighters “targeted Christians” after they “rejected the generous offer made to them by Islamic State, based on the just rulings of Islam.” This “generous offer” was likely a demand for members of the Christian community of Bafwakoa, a village in the territory of Mambasa, to convert to Islam or accept dhimmi status as subjugated, supposedly protected, people. One of several...

At least 43 people have been killed in an attack by a rebel group linked to ISIL (ISIS) in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the army. Regional army spokesperson Lieutenant Jules Tshikudi Ngongo said on Thursday that at least “43 compatriots were killed and 44 houses torched” during the previous day’s attack in Bafwakoa, located in Mambasa territory, in the province of Ituri. Authorities blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group led by former Ugandan rebels that has sworn allegiance to ISIL. The army has struggled to contain the group, as it battles...