DRC's ministers of health and communications arrive in Bunia to oversee Ebola response

The Democratic Republic of Congo's health and communications ministers arrived in Bunia to oversee the response to the latest Ebola outbreak.

Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said he travelled to Bunia, the epicentre of the outbreak, to monitor the situation.

"I am here, above all, to support the healthcare staff, who are bearing the brunt of the situation in healthcare centres because we have lost doctors and qualified healthcare staff. We are here, first and foremost, to show our sympathy," he said.

The number of suspected cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is also due in Ituri province on Friday. 

Speaking after his arrival in Kinshasa on Thursday, he vowed to do "everything in [his] power to help."

"That thing can be stopped," he said. "Together we can overcome this outbreak."

Tedros also issued a plea to warring parties in eastern DRC to declare a ceasefire. “Conflict and displacement make everything harder,” Tedros said. “No cause, no conflict, no grievance is worth condemning innocent people to death from a preventable disease.”

The Ebola outbreak is spreading rapidly, forcing some countries to take measures such as closing their borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Wednesday, Uganda ordered the closure of its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola are surging, and as cases have been confirmed at home after Ugandan.