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Ebola treatment centre in Congo reopens after attack

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Burned structures are seen after attackers set fire to an Ebola treatment center run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the east Congolese town of Katwa, Democratic Republic of Congo February 25, 2019. Laurie Bonnaud/MSF/Handout via REUTERS

An Ebola treatment facility at the epicentre of the current outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has resumed operations after it was closed in response to an attack last week, the Congolese health ministry said on Sunday.

The facility in the city of Butembo was one of two centres torched by unknown assailants in the space of a few days, prompting Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to suspend medical activities.

Aid workers have faced mistrust in some areas as they work to contain the Ebola outbreak, which has become the worst in Congo’s history.

The ministry said the Butembo treatment centre reopened on Saturday. “For now it is managed by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organization and UNICEF,” it said in a statement.

MSF has not said when it might resume medical activities in the area.

The current Ebola epidemic, first declared last August, is believed to have killed at least 561 people so far and infected over 300 more.

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