Red Cross volunteers among first Ebola victims in Congo outbreak

Three volunteers from the DR Congo Red Cross died after falling ill during the Ebola outbreak in northeastern Congo, a loss that exposed how quickly the virus reached the people working closest to the dead. The volunteers were based in Ituri province and worked for the Mongbwalu branch in Djugu territory, in the outbreak’s epicenter. One died on May 5, and the other two died on May 15 and May 16.

The volunteers were believed to have been infected on March 27 while handling bodies, one of the most dangerous parts of an Ebola response. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said they were among the first known victims of the outbreak. Their deaths underscored the danger facing local responders who were not only treating fear in their communities, but also carrying the burden of burial work in an area where health workers were already under pressure.

The World Health Organization said the outbreak was marked by rapidly rising infections and was being fought in a conflict zone. That combination made containment harder from the start: insecurity complicated access, trust was fragile, and aid groups had to work with limited protection while the virus moved through communities. The Red Cross said its volunteers lost their lives while serving their communities with courage and humanity, a reminder that the first line of response was also the most exposed.

The outbreak later became the world’s second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, and WHO declared it over on June 25, 2020. The crisis came after Congo’s earlier 2018 Ebola outbreak was first confirmed on May 8 in Bikoro health zone in Équateur province. That outbreak became the first in which the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine was used early, and WHO said 3,481 people were vaccinated. WHO has said Ebola was first identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, a history that made the deaths of the Ituri volunteers all the more stark: even with decades of experience, the country’s response system remained vulnerable when the virus entered hard-to-reach places and those sent to contain it became its first casualties.