DRC: Ebola fears grow as children return to school

Goma, DR Congo – Children across the Democratic Republic of the Congo are returning to school on Tuesday as the country battles its largest Ebola outbreak on record, prompting concern among parents and teachers in the worst-hit province of Ituri.

Government figures showed 6,041 confirmed cases and 2,911 deaths as of August 31, surpassing the previous worst outbreak, which ran from 2018 to 2020.

Six of the country’s 26 provinces are affected. Ituri, in the northeast, remains the epicentre, with 4,802 confirmed cases recorded as of August 26.

In Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital, parents are questioning whether schools should reopen while the outbreak continues to spread.

“As a parent, I am concerned about the announcement that schools are reopening, especially as we are facing the Ebola outbreak in our region. We are asking the government what measures they will put in place to protect children from this disease,” said Dieudonne Lotsima, a father of three and resident of Bunia.

Lotsima believes classes should be postponed until a vaccine specifically effective against the virus causing the outbreak becomes available.

“Children are children,” he told Al Jazeera. “They may not wash their hands at the washbasins, and if they become infected, they risk infecting the whole family. This return to school is uncertain, and if we do not take steps to protect the children, I do not know what we can do.”

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a species of ebolavirus different from the Zaire ebolavirus, which has caused most previous Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.