Machete mob in Congo hacks Ebola nurse to death over claims the medic spread the virus in the water supply

A machete-and-baton-wielding mob attacked workers at Bafwasende's general hospital in Tshopo province on Friday, killing a nurse and wounding a second person — initially described as a health worker but subsequently identified as a teacher — who survived after police stepped in. The WHO and UN have both condemned the assault, the latest in a deteriorating pattern of violence directed at health workers responding to an epidemic that has taken more than 4,800 lives in the DRC since May.

In North Kivu last month, a Congolese politician was beaten to death by a mob after he publicly backed social-distancing measures.

Misinformation circulating online claims the outbreak is either a manufactured crisis engineered to benefit aid organisations or a foreign plot to seize control of Congo's mineral wealth.

Restrictions on how mourners may handle the dead — introduced to curb transmission — have become a distinct source of tension, stoking hostility toward health workers in local communities.