Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege has stepped down from a COVID-19 task force in eastern Congo, saying his hospital needs to focus on treating coronavirus patients because testing delays and other problems have allowed the crisis to deepen.
In announcing his resignation Wednesday, Mukwege said he expected virus cases to keep mounting in Bukavu, where his renowned Panzi Hospital treats survivors of sexual violence and provides other health care services.
Mukwege’s statement outlined problems that had hurt regional coronavirus response efforts, including delays of more than two weeks on testing samples sent to a national laboratory in the capital, Kinshasa.
The emergence of COVID-19 in eastern Congo comes as the region has yet to declare victory over the world’s second most deadly Ebola outbreak in history, which has left more than 2,200 people dead since August 2018.
Health officials in Congo are also grappling with the world’s largest measles outbreak, which has touched every province and left nearly 7,000 dead.
