DRC Ebola clinic celebrates departure of last confirmed cases

Medical staff were joined by local residents as they celebrated the departure of the last Ebola patients from a treatment centre in Mongbwalu, in DR Congo’s Ituri province.

It’s the first time the Médicins Sans Frontières-run clinic has had no confirmed Ebola cases since the outbreak was declared in May.

But the virus continues to spread across eastern Congo.

On Tuesday, health authorities said the outbreak has passed more than 10,000 confirmed cases. More than 2,600 people have recovered. But with almost 5,000 deaths, the epidemic’s fatality rate is close to 50 percent.

Authorities working to contain the virus face numerous challenges, including the lack of an approved treatment or vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola driving the outbreak.

Earlier this month, nine cases were confirmed in Kenya and one in Nigeria. The World Health Organization warned that Africa faces a "complex" task to contain an outbreak spanning the east, west and centre of the continent.