An Ebola treatment center in Congo has been set on fire as fear and anger grow over the spread of the disease

Bunia, Congo – People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the center of the massacre in eastern Congo on Thursday after being prevented from removing the body of a local man, a witness and a police chief said, as fear and anger grew over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to control.

The arson attack in Rwampara shows the challenges of health workers trying to contain the rare Ebola virus by using strict measures that may conflict with local customs, such as burial rules. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region that lacks adequate health facilities and where many people are trying to escape armed conflicts.

The bodies of those who died from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread as people prepare for burials and gather at funerals. The dangerous practice of burying suspected victims is controlled by the authorities where possible, which is met with protests from the families and friends of the victims.

A center in Rwampara was set on fire by youths from the area who got angry while trying to retrieve the body of his friend who was suspected to have died of Ebola, according to a witness who spoke to the Associated Press by phone.

“Unfortunately, the police intervened to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful,” said Alexis Burata, a student from the area who said he was in the area. “The youth ended up burning down the center. That’s the situation.”

Reuters news agency captured photos of the new treatment center:

An AP reporter saw people enter the facility and burn the contents and the body of at least one person suspected of being killed by Ebola that was kept there. Aid workers fled the medical center in vehicles.

Deputy Chief Commissioner Jean Claude Mukendi, the head of the public security department in Ituri province, said the youth did not understand the rules for burying a suspected Ebola victim.

“His family, friends, and other young people wanted to take his body home and bury it even though the instructions of the authorities during the Ebola outbreak were clear,” said Mukendi. “All bodies must be buried according to the rules.”

Hama Amadou, the coordinator of the charity ALIMA, which had teams working at the center, said that after a while there was calm and that the helping groups are continuing their work at the center.

The outpouring of anger has highlighted the problems faced by Congolese authorities and a range of aid agencies trying to contain the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of global concern.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media on Friday that “there are now approximately 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths” in Congo and two confirmed cases and one reported death” in neighboring Uganda.

But the WHO said the outbreak was almost too big and expressed concern about the speed of the spread.

“We are at the stage where we are intensifying the investigation, looking for cases,” said Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I expect the number of cases to increase as surveillance becomes more intense.”

Risk of outbreaks global prevalence is lowsays the WHO, but it is regionally high with Ituri State at the center of the outbreak on the border of Uganda and South Sudan.

Early detection of the virus is critical to saving lives, but already weak health infrastructure and surveillance capacity have been weakened by cuts in international aid, experts say. More than 920,000 people have left their homes in Ituri province, according to the UN

Armed conflict in the region is complicating efforts to address the crisis. Local leaders said an attack by ISIS-linked militants killed at least 17 people on Tuesday in Alima, a village in Ituri.

Health workers and aid organizations say they are in dire need of resources and staff to respond. Also, there is no vaccine available or medicine for the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the outbreak.

An expert this week said it will take at least six to nine months before one is found.

“The priority now is to act quickly and work closely with communities, as the coming days are critical,” said Ariel Kestens, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies team in Congo.

Ebola it is highly contagious and widespread to humans through contact with body fluids such as vomit, blood, faeces or semen. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and sometimes internal and external bleeding.

The virus has been spreading undetected for weeks following the first known death in late April as Congolese health authorities test for a variant of the Ebola virus that often breaks out in the country. Health officials have yet to find “zero,” according to the WHO.

The scale of the outbreak so far suggests that it “probably started a few months ago,” said Anaïs Legand, an expert on viral hemorrhagic fevers at the WHO.

The US government has it he put restrictions on any visitors who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days, barring foreign visitors among them from entering the US and requiring US citizens and permanent residents to be transferred to Washington Dulles International Airport for screening.

India and the African Union said on Thursday that the India-Africa Forum, which was supposed to be held next week in New Delhi, has been postponed due to the changing health situation in parts of Africa.

On Wednesday, the Congolese football team canceled a three-day World Cup training camp and farewell program in the capital Kinshasa due to the Ebola outbreak.