The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that its response activities to the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have resumed despite ongoing attacks.

In a Sunday statement, the WHO also said that following Friday’s attacks in the town of Beni, all WHO, Congolese ministry health workers and other staff had been accounted for. Sixteen WHO staff were evacuated to Goma for psychological counselling after their residence was hit by a shell which did not explode.

Earlier in the week, seven UN peacekeepers and 12 Congolese soldiers were killed during a joint operation against the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia group.

It was not clear who was behind Friday’s shelling of the UN staff residence as it happened during exchanges of fire between a militia, UN peacekeepers and the Congolese army.

Following the attack, vaccination operations were temporarily suspended and the operations centre was closed.

However, teams still went out into the communities to follow up on some alerts of potential Ebola cases and to bring sick people to treatment centres. The treatment centres, which are run by partners, remained operational.

Two months ago vaccination and outreach work in the area was also temporarily suspended following a rebel attack which killed 18 people, highlighting the difficulties aid workers and the UN are facing in trying to fight Ebola.

But the dedication of aid workers and the WHO remains unshaken.  “WHO will continue to work side-by-side with the ministry and our partners to bring this Ebola outbreak to an end,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“We honour the memory of those who have died battling this outbreak, and deplore the continuing threats on the security of those still working to end it.” 

An Ebola outbreak in the region has killed more than 200 people since August.