Beni (DR Congo) (AFP)

More than 2,000 deaths for 3,000 cases, a new death in neighboring Uganda: the Ebola epidemic in eastern DR Congo has withstood for more than a year the "responses" in the field, where the Secretary General of the UN is expected Sunday.

"The cumulative number of cases is 3,004, of which 2,899 confirmed and 105 probable.In total, there were 2,006 deaths," said Friday the Congolese health authorities giving a final assessment of the outbreak declared on August 1, 2018.

More than 200,000 people were vaccinated during this tenth epidemic on Congolese soil, by far the most serious. It is the second deadliest after the one that ravaged West Africa in 2014 (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, 11,000 dead).

A third death in neighboring Uganda rekindles the fear of spreading EVD (Ebola virus disease) beyond the Congolese province of North Kivu, where the majority of cases have been recorded. A nine-year-old Congolese who died Friday in Kasese district.

Until then, epicentres have moved between the cities of Mangina, Beni and Butembo since the declaration of the epidemic.

It is in Beni that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected on Sunday the second day of his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which begins Saturday in Goma.

Guterres wants to "support the teams involved in the Ebola response," say the United Nations, for whom this is a priority, in front of other aspects of this official trip (security, politics).

In Beni Friday, the city offers its usual industrious face, with its many shops around its main boulevard, its ballet of motorcycle taxis and trucks stormed by stowaways.

On the ground of the "response", under the supervision of the Congolese authorities, the big NGOs make themselves useful where they can to justify themselves to their donors.

- resist resistances -

In recent months, many have invested in "awareness" and "community involvement": it is to involve ordinary Congolese in the actions of prevention against Ebola.

It is especially a question of resisting the "resistance" of a part of the population which denies the disease, rejects the vaccination, refuses the hospitalization of a relative with suspicious symptoms ...

"For the moment, the situation is good compared to the past weeks, but in some health zones, there are many cases of community reluctance.These are the areas that report the most cases confirmed," says a senior official. Oxfam, Robert Bahati.

"Consequence: the + contacts + confirmed cases are not followed," he laments. An additional risk of spread.

At the southern exit of Beni, the district of Mabolio is part of these areas of resistance.

This Friday, the neighborhood chief and members of the health committee talk about the death of "Papa Gilles", 60, who died the night before.

Is he dead of Ebola? Medical samples will tell. One thing is certain: during his illness, his family "resisted" the Ebola teams who wanted to know more about this at-risk neighborhood.

"We went over and over again, the family did not want access to the sick," said deputy chief of the district Justin Kasereka.

In Mabolio still, six people showed up this Friday with "signs related to the EVD," says a member of the "health committee", Volcan Kambale. "Only one case went to the Treatment Center".

Ebola haemorrhagic fever, highly contagious, causes the death of between 25 and 90% of patients, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

There is no commercialized treatment or vaccine, but several leads are being tested.

It is spread through direct contact with blood, body secretions (sweat, stool, etc.), through sexual intercourse and through the improper handling of contaminated cadavers.

© 2019 AFP