Congo curtails funeral wakes in Ebola outbreak as WHO upgrades risk assessment

Authorities in northeastern Congo banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people Friday in an effort to curb a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in a region where medical workers have struggled with a lack of resources and pushback from angry residents.

The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger.”

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, which spread undetected for weeks in Congo’s Ituri Province following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative.

There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected