The World Health Organisation has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo ‘catastrophic’, sources confirm. At least 31 people have died in the past week alone. The virus has now spread to Goma, a city of two million, raising fears of a regional pandemic.
British scientists from the University of Oxford and Public Health England are rushing to deploy experimental vaccines. Documents obtained by this newsroom show the UK government has allocated £10 million for emergency response, but critics say it’s too little, too late. The outbreak is the second deadliest in history, with over 2,000 lives lost since 2018.
Local health workers are overwhelmed. ‘We are losing the fight,’ one WHO official told me. The UK’s support includes 1,000 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine and a team of epidemiologists.
But the logistics are a nightmare: the vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius. In a country where electricity is unreliable, that’s a recipe for failure. Meanwhile, the money trail leads to mining companies operating in the region.
They have been accused of bribing local officials to downplay the outbreak. One source claims a British-linked firm paid off a health inspector to delay quarantine measures. The Foreign Office denies any knowledge.
This is not just a health crisis. It’s a crisis of accountability. British taxpayers are funding the response while their government turns a blind eye to corporate culpability.
The bodies keep piling up, and the suits keep cashing in. I’ll be following the money.
