Angry crowd sets Ebola hospital tents on fire in DR Congo

[muriel_volestrangler]

This is MAGA-level stupidity.

An angry crowd set alight a section of a hospital at the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after family and friends of a young man thought to have died from the virus were prevented from taking his body away for burial.

"They started throwing projectiles at the hospital. They even set fire to tents that were being used as isolation wards," local politician Luc Malembe Malembe told the BBC about the scene he witnessed at Rwampara General Hospital.
...
The body of a dead Ebola victim is highly infectious and the authorities need to ensure safe burial to stop the spread of the virus.
...
Malembe said the crowd did not believe the virus, which has so far killed more than 130 in eastern DR Congo, was real.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8p2g8yp8do

[QueerDuck]

1. FAFO ... with deadly consequences.

[Skittles]

11. religious garbage

ugh

[hlthe2b]

2. Did not believe the virus, which has so far killed... was real. Gee, sounds familiar.

A glimpse into the behavior of MAGA and a few others if extremely stringent public health requirements are ever necessary again for an infectious agent in this country. Sigh... Darwin was right, but he didn't tell us how to deal with those whose ignorance would kill the rest of us.

[ahnakneemoose]

5. Essential Words by hlthe2b Most Worthy of Repetition

Sigh...
Darwin was right
But he didn't tell us how to deal with
Those whose ignorance would kill the rest of us

[yardwork]

18. Philosophers, poets, novelists, historians, and others try to tell us.

It's a tragedy of being human. Some of us are capable of great insight and empathy. Others seem capable of nothing but cruelty. Most of us are part of the mob - whether we want to be or not - and the mob is easily fooled.

[riversedge]

3. Map of where it is in --and it is spreading...Two cases of the virus have been detected in DR Congo's neighbour, Uganda.

.webp


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8p2g8yp8do

[Dave Bowman]

4. They should wear maga hats. And make a statue of RFK Jr.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. It's like a horror film.

[yourout]

7. If the ebola outbreak goes world wide the gutting of..

USAID will be a factor
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/21/ebola-outbreak-public-health

[Skittles]

9. the "pro-life Christian" party strikes again

[mdbl]

8. The crowd must be listening to RFK Jr

[haele]

10. No, it's unfortunately a religious practice conflict.

Some sects of various offshoots of the major religions and some tribal religions believe the body of the recently deceased is required to go through certain rituals or be collected for burial immediately or the family or community risks hauntings, curses, attracting bad spirits (other than the deceased) or general bad luck.
They consider it equally important that the body be handled properly as it is to keep a disease from rampaging through the community.
And you can't really convince them otherwise. Especially if they don't want to believe it's Ebola.

On edit - it seems the young man was a popular footballer who played on several regional teams for the national league.
The DRC National Football team is planning on participating in the World Cup. That's a significant risk.

[LisaL]

14. Sure sounds like a big risk.

To spread it far and wide.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. They've cancelled their in-country training camp

The Democratic Republic of Congo has cancelled its pre-World Cup training camp in the capital, Kinshasa, because of an Ebola outbreak in the east of the country.
...
A spokesperson for DR Congo's football team told reporters that the training camp, part of the preparations for the team's first World Cup since 1974, would now take place in Belgium.
...
The US's public health agency has banned entry from non-Americans who have been in the DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days, in response to the Ebola outbreak.

All DR Congo's players are based outside the central African country and will therefore not be affected by the restrictions now the training camp has been cancelled.

Some team staff based in DR Congo left the country on Wednesday, Kalemo told the Associated Press, ahead of the 21-day deadline.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d80856q2go

[Gore1FL]

12. MAGA has an African cousin.

I wonder if they brought ivermectin.

[GenThePerservering]

13. There are gullible people everywhere

seduced by religion.

[Skittles]

16. GROOMED by religion

that delusional nonsense is passed down from generation to generation

[yardwork]

17. This is where the U.S. is headed.