Burial teams in Congo’s Ituri province say they are nearing their limits as they handle Ebola victims almost daily, with rising fatigue, fear of infection and hostility from grieving families.
Nearly 3,200 people have died among more than 6,600 confirmed cases since mid-May, and safe-burial rules bar relatives from washing or touching bodies because victims can still spread the virus after death.
Since May, bereaved families have attacked health and burial workers angered by the loss of traditional rites, even as teams paid $20 a day remain central to containing transmission.
Ituri’s rebel conflict, weak surveillance, poor contact tracing and the lack of an approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain are undermining containment across six eastern provinces.
Health authorities say the real caseload may be three times official figures, and the WHO projects the outbreak could surpass West Africa’s 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,000.