Ebola deaths in Congo top 500 as health workers threaten to strike

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p><strong>At least 500 people have died out of more than 1&comma;500 confirmed cases in Congo’s Ebola outbreak&comma; authorities said&comma; as frontline workers threatened to go on strike on Monday over unpaid benefits and poor working conditions&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The outbreak has recorded 1&comma;561 cases&comma; including 506 deaths&comma; since it was declared on May 15 as the spread continues to outpace response&comma; Congo’s Ministry of Health said in its latest update on Sunday night&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Frontline workers deployed in Ituri province&comma; the epicentre of the outbreak&comma; issued a 24-hour notice on Sunday threatening to strike if authorities fail to pay them and improve their working conditions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The workers include mostly health professionals who have been labouring with little rest as they battle attacks from angry residents and widespread scepticism about the virus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the notice to the government&comma; a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press&comma; the workers both in and outside hospitals said they had not been paid benefits since the outbreak began and they do not have adequate supplies for their work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They also complained of poor salaries&comma; the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;arrogance” of teams sent from Congo’s capital of Kinshasa&comma; and the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;excessive” use of labour from other provinces without prioritising local labour in Ituri&comma; as well as the lack of adequate equipment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The strike threats come just days after enrolment for clinical trials started&comma; raising concerns in the epicentre about its possible impact&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Any strike could also hamper efforts to slow the spread of the outbreak&comma; which is now confirmed in three eastern provinces&comma; including North Kivu and South Kivu&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus&comma; which is responsible for the latest Ebola outbreak&comma; has complicated response efforts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The more common Zaire virus&comma; for which there is a vaccine&comma; was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officials have yet to identify the outbreak’s patient zero and still need to trace possibly tens of thousands of people who have come in contact with infected individuals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first month of this Ebola outbreak was already the worst on record&comma; the World Health Organisation has said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"wp-embedded-content" data-secret&equals;"Jl8LMywEuO"><p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;energise-your-spring&sol;">Energise Your Spring<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><iframe class&equals;"wp-embedded-content" sandbox&equals;"allow-scripts" security&equals;"restricted" style&equals;"position&colon; absolute&semi; visibility&colon; hidden&semi;" title&equals;"&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Energise Your Spring” — London Glossy Post" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;energise-your-spring&sol;embed&sol;&num;&quest;secret&equals;NOnHJvNjSS&num;&quest;secret&equals;Jl8LMywEuO" data-secret&equals;"Jl8LMywEuO" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"338" frameborder&equals;"0" marginwidth&equals;"0" marginheight&equals;"0" scrolling&equals;"no"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-6a4e7086dae03">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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