Police fire shots in air to disperse angry crowds at DR Congo Ebola treatment centre

Police fire shots in air to disperse angry crowds at DR Congo Ebola treatment centre11 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEmery Makumeno,BBC Africa, KinshasaandHafsa KhalilReutersHealth workers handling the bodies of people suspected to have died from Ebola have to be very careful in order to prevent further infectionsPolice in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo fired shots in the air after angry crowds attempted to reclaim the bodies of loved ones who had died at an Ebola treatment centre in Mongwalu, two local journalists told the BBC.Sunday's unrest continued throughout the day, the reporters said. The treatment centre, in a hospital compound, was the same place that was targeted overnight on Friday into Saturday, when an isolation tent was set ablaze.The body of a dead Ebola victim is highly infectious and can lead to the virus spreading further when prepared for burial. There have been more than 900 suspected Ebola cases in the current outbreak and 220 suspected deaths, officials say.According to Mongwalu General Hospital's medical director Dr Richard Lokudu, Sunday's attackers demanded the bodies of two people be given to their families.He told the Associated Press news agency that the hospital was on "general alert".Suspicion of the authorities and scepticism about the cause of death has led to deep distrust among some in the communities currently affected by Ebola.On Thursday, crowds set fire to isolation tents in hospital in Rwampara - a town near Mongwalu where cases are also concentrated - after they were prevented from taking the body of a man thought to have died from Ebola, away for burial.'Speed, money and compassion' - lessons from an Ebola survivor and other expertsWhat is Ebola and why is stopping the latest outbreak so difficult?Red Cross volunteers are carrying out safe burials under police protection to stop the virus spreading. Three volunteers have also died from suspected Ebola likely ca...