A nurse was killed and a health worker severely injured after being attacked while responding to an Ebola alert in Congo, according to the World Health Organization. The attack took place on Saturday in the town of Bafwasende in the country's eastern Tshopo province, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X on Sunday.

Source: Associated Press

"Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety. Healthcare must always be protected," Tedros said. WHO's regional director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, also condemned the attack on X, saying: "Misinformation and fear must never fuel violence."

Local authorities had not yet commented on the attack or on any suspects, the Associated Press reported. It was the latest in a series of attacks on health workers and responders that authorities say is hampering efforts to slow the outbreak.

Congo's health ministry's most recent data indicates more than 9,800 cases, including more than 4,700 deaths, have been recorded since the start of the outbreak in May — yaani, over ninety-eight hundred cases and more than forty-seven hundred deaths — making it the deadliest Ebola outbreak in Congo's history, according to the figures cited by AP.

Last month, a Congolese politician was beaten to death in North Kivu after publicly defending the government's response to Ebola, having called on the public on a radio show to obey response measures such as social distancing and handwashing. AP reported that a village-centred approach to fighting the outbreak has faced resistance from some residents who dismiss Ebola as a hoax, amid widespread distrust of the government.