BUNIA, Congo (AP) 鈥� Congolese health authorities monitored Thursday passengers traveling on a boat stationed near Kinshasa after a traveler died with symptoms matching .
Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak since May, declared , with confirmed cases reaching 4,000, including over 1,800 deaths, according to Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC.
The passenger had disembarked after getting sick in Pimu, in the province of Mongala, more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from Kinshasa, Kaseya said Thursday, adding that the capital has no .
The boat had been traveling for nearly three weeks along the Congo River with nearly 200 passengers on board. They have been tested for Ebola and are in quarantine while awaiting their results.
鈥淲e decided to do that even if some of them didn鈥檛 have symptoms because we want to make sure that we don鈥檛 miss anything,鈥� Kaseya added.
Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.
News of the passenger鈥檚 death caused panic in Kinshasa, which is far from the eastern region hit by the outbreak, the second-largest outbreak on record, behind the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak that recorded more than 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths.
Authorities say 60-70% of new cases in the current outbreak are recorded outside of contacts being monitored, and that the outbreak is spreading at an 鈥渁larming鈥� rate faster than efforts to track it.
Health workers strike disrupts response
Dozens of Congolese health workers at the epicenter in Ituri province, meanwhile, staged protests Thursday to demand payment for their wages, abandoning several health facilities and further disrupting critical care.
The health workers were protesting at the governor鈥檚 office in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, which accounts for in the country. They are the latest group to walk off their jobs since protests over pay issues began weeks ago.
The health workers, including nurses providing critical care to Ebola patients, said they haven’t received wages and bonuses for their work since the outbreak was declared in mid-May in one of Congo鈥檚 most remote and vulnerable areas .
鈥淲ith this way of managing things, Ebola will not end in this province. We ask the authorities to get involved at all levels so that a solution is found quickly,鈥� said Edouige Makosi, one of the protesters.
Officials have in the past blamed logistical issues for the payment delays. Congolese authorities did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comments on Thursday.
has been a key source of concern in the outbreak. Apart from the payment issues, many health workers and facilities have been attacked by rebels and angry mobs.
During his visit to Congo on Wednesday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged authorities to prioritize care and support for the responders.
Ebola is spreading at an 鈥榓larming鈥� rate in Congo
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said this week that the outbreak is still 鈥渟preading at an alarming and unprecedented rate鈥� and that the response, which has been expanding, 鈥渋s still not reaching communities quickly enough to break transmission chains.鈥�
Government data shows 674 patients are currently in isolation, most of them in Ituri.
At least 75% of contacts are being traced after their exposure to patients, the data showed. A bigger concern, though, according to officials, is that contact tracing has not been effective as most new cases are coming from sources not being monitored and from remote localities where rebel conflict and mining-related movements are limiting access.
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McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal.
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