WHO upgrades risk from Ebola to 'very high' in DRC
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The WHO has upgraded the risk from the current Ebola outbreak to "very high" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and says regionally the risk is high -- though it remains low in the rest of the world. Newshour hears from Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group which helped develop the Astra Zeneca Covid vaccine.
Also in the programme: Will Grant reports from Havana on Cuba under pressure; and how barnacles affect stationary ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
(Picture: Red Cross workers walk in a formation as they disinfect Rwampara general hospital before handling the body of a person who died of Ebola, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.2 | Hello and welcome to NewsAv from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.5 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:14.3 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:15.9 | And we're going to begin again today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| 0:19.2 | and the outbreak of a new and rare type of the |
| 0:21.8 | Ebola virus that's already killed 177 people. That number is rising by the day. Ebola is fatal |
| 0:28.7 | in about a third of cases and the virus is spreading. The WHO has just said it's upping the risk from |
| 0:35.0 | high to very high. Well it's now thought to have reached |
| 0:38.3 | South Kivu province in eastern DRC, many hundreds of kilometres from the epicenter of the outbreak, |
| 0:44.1 | and a region devastated by conflict with many areas controlled by armed rebels. That is hampering |
| 0:50.3 | efforts to contain the virus, as is persistent misinformation about the disease. |
| 0:55.6 | In one town, residents angry about not being able to take away the body of a loved one, |
| 1:00.1 | burned down two hospital tents hosting Ebola patients. |
| 1:04.3 | Health officials say the bodies of Ebola victims can be extremely infectious. |
| 1:09.6 | Well, in a moment, we'll be hearing about the race to develop a vaccine for this rare strain. |
| 1:14.8 | But first to the official response, my colleague James Kopnox, has been speaking to the DRC's |
| 1:19.2 | Foreign Minister, Therese Kaiy Kwa Wagner, and began by asking her about that hospital fire. |
| 1:26.0 | Indeed, we had a very unfortunate situation yesterday in a hospital |
| 1:30.0 | where relatives of a patient sought to retrieve the patient's body |
| 1:35.8 | who was in a treatment centre. |
| 1:37.7 | I think this shows us to what extent when we seek to find responses to the Ebola epidemic, |
... |
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