Congo Reopens Airport in Ebola Outbreak Zone

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday announced the reopening of the airport in Bunia, the capital city of Ituri province, which is the epicenter of the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak.

The DRC Ministry of Transport and Communications suspended all flights to and from Bunia Airport on May 27 as a “precautionary measure” to “prevent any cross-border spread of the epidemic and to ensure the health and safety of passengers, crews and airport staff.”

The flight ban included exceptions for humanitarian and medical flights, subject to approval from the DRC’s aviation and health ministries, but local residents complained that shutting down the airport would deprive them of critical supplies in their hour of greatest need.

“Bunia Airport is one of the DRC’s border points. Several planes take off and land there. Closing this facility will cause significant disruption. As you know, the road is virtually impassable and many people prefer to fly,” Bunia-based economist Pascal Tudja said when the shutdown was announced.

Six days later, in a statement published late on Monday evening, the transport ministry said conditions have improved enough to “allow a gradual and safe resumption of air transport activities.”

The ministry told travelers to expect body temperature screening at the airport and that no one with a fever would be allowed to board a plane. Passengers will also be required to wash their hands before boarding.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) dramatically lowered its tally of suspected Ebola cases on Tuesday, featuring a new revised total of 321 confirmed infections, 116 suspected cases, 48 fatalities, and 6 recoveries from Ebola. An additional nine confirmed cases and one death have been reported in neighboring Uganda.

W.H.O. said there were 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths on Friday. The Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC) said on Sunday that over 1,100 suspected cases were under investigation.

W.H.O. spokesman Christian Lindmeier said that hundreds of suspected cases “have been cleared out, and have either other diseases, or have just had fever and nothing else.” Fevers are one of the most notable early signs of Ebola infection, but of course there are many other reasons why someone might be running a fever.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also reported that the DRC’s Ministry of Health has “updated their total suspect case count to remove suspected cases that have been ruled out after investigation.”

CDC advised that the Ebola outbreak is a “rapidly evolving situation,” and “case counts are subject to change.”

On the other hand, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) warned on Monday that the Ebola outbreak “is likely significantly larger and more advanced than official figures suggest, as response efforts struggle with delayed detection and dangerously low levels of contact tracing.”

“The virus may have been spreading undetected since before March, potentially as long as three months before the first official case was identified, allowing multiple chains of transmission to establish across communities and provinces,” IRC noted.

The IRC cited shortages of testing kits for the rare Bundibugyo strain, “deep fear and mistrust” in the eastern Congo, and the death of at least six healthcare workers from Ebola infections as reasons to believe the outbreak could be larger than reported.

“When four out of five contacts are not being traced, it becomes incredibly difficult to contain the outbreak or even understand its true scale. We’re especially concerned about the virus spreading to other countries like Burundi or South Sudan,” IRC Senior Technical Emergency Health Advisor Rachel Howard said.