Doctors operating on the front lines of the fight against Ebola in Congo, already grappling ​with shortages of basic supplies, are now also having to deal with attacks on their facilities and fleeing patients as the virus spreads ‌rapidly.

At least three such incidents have occurred in the northeastern province of Ituri, where the first Ebola cases were reported, including two at the weekend targeting the same hospital that permitted more than two dozen patients to run away.

The attacks recall the widespread violence targeting health facilities during a 2018-2020 outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that killed more than 25 health workers.

Some ​were perpetrated by civilians who were angry about not being able to bury their loved ones or were convinced that the outbreak was a hoax. ​The influx of money and manpower into an area that had felt neglected during decades of conflict and humanitarian crisis has ⁠spurred local suspicions about the real motives for the sudden spike of interest.

A similar dynamic seems to be playing out now, said Dr Richard Lokodu, medical director"There is denial of the disease within the population, with some members wanting ​to claim the bodies of suspected and/or confirmed cases," he said.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, the third-largest such outbreak on record, a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday there had been more than 900 suspected cases in the outbreak so far, including 101 confirmed cases.

On Monday, Tedros said there ​had been 220 suspected deaths in the current Ebola outbreak and that a delay in detecting cases meant responders were now "playing catch-up".

PATIENT DIED WHILE TRYING TO FLEE

At the ​Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, located in Mongbwalu town, where many cases have been reported, 18 Ebola patients fled on Saturday after "unidentified individuals" burned tents, erected by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières, ‌where patients ⁠were being isolated, Lokodu said. of ​the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, which came under attack first on Saturday and again on Sunday.