A tent used to treat people in an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo is set on fire again, according to multiple reports. Outlets say the incident is the second time a treatment tent has been burned in the region this week. A local hospital director and other sources attributed the arson to angry residents from a town near the outbreak’s epicenter, who attacked and set fire to the tent as part of a health center.
Following the fire, 18 people who are suspected of being infected with the virus (described in some reports as the Ebola Bundibugyo virus) leave the treatment area and enter the community, according to the same reports that cite the hospital director. One outlet notes the events are followed by concerns about contagion and additional spread as communities prepare the bodies of those who die and gather for burials.
Several reports also describe the broader context as a continued Ebola outbreak affecting East Africa, and they reference a previous tent burning in another community one day earlier.
