Aid group Samaritan's Purse plans 50-bed Ebola unit in Congo

Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse hopes to open within a week a 50-bed Ebola treatment centre in the area of the outbreak in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, its President told Reuters.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo ​strain of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments, a public health ​emergency ⁠of international concern. Medics battling the outbreak are grappling with supply shortages as well as attacks on their facilities, with protesters setting fire to tents for patients in Rwamparaek in the Ituri province last week.

"We have a lot more security available to us in Bunia, so we feel confident that we will be okay from those type of attacks," Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan's Purse, told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday, referring to the provincial capital.

He said the organisation - which helped in Congo during the 2018-2020 outbreak - will also be working with local churches and spreading information leaflets to educate communities and gain community trust.

Materials for the centre, including generators and air conditioners to cool down patients and medics working in full protective gear, are set to arrive in Ituri on Wednesday. "You're building a small town," he said.

-Emma Farge/Reuters