On May 22, in the city of Mongbwalu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local residents set fire to a tent at a medical center where Ebola patients were being treated. After the fire, 18 people with suspected infection fled from the institution; their whereabouts are now unknown, the Associated Press (AP) reported on May 24.
Initially, no one was injured as a result of the fire. The management of the institution condemned the act, noting that it caused panic among the staff and also led to the escape of the possibly infected.
This is the second arson attack on Ebola treatment centers in the region in recent days: on May 21, in the town of Rwampara, local residents burned down the facility after they were not allowed to collect the body of a deceased person. According to law enforcement officials, relatives and friends wanted to take the body home for burial, but during an epidemic, authorities require that infected people be buried according to special rules that may contradict local customs.
The Red Cross told the publication that on May 23, a joint funeral of Ebola patients was organized in Rwampara. Amid significant tension between medics and the community, they took place under heavy security with military and police presence, while grief-stricken relatives stood at a distance. Also recently, in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus, authorities in the northeast of the country banned memorial gatherings with the participation of more than fifty people, AP writes.
According to the publication, there are currently 750 suspected cases of the virus and 177 probable deaths, but the number could rise as surveillance expands.
