Article via DailyMail

• Medics ditching their scrubs and lying about their jobs to avoid conflict in Congo
• Militiamen believe Ebola is a conspiracy against them and are attacking workers
• Death toll 1,161 while infection count shot to 1,760 on Thursday, officials said

‘Our staff has to lie about being doctors in order to treat people,’ Tariq Riebel, emergency response director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), told The Washington Post. 

The Congo is currently facing the second deadliest outbreak of the killer virus ever, with the death toll climbing to 1,161 on Thursday.

The infection count, meanwhile, has shot to 1,760, Congo’s Ministry of Health said. 

Armed militiamen believe Ebola is a conspiracy against them and have repeatedly attacked health workers battling the epidemic. 

There have been 119 attacks this year against aid workers, with eighty-five being wounded or killed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

It comes as aid groups warn they could run out of money in weeks.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that unless it gets more funding it won’t be able to continue providing support to crews burying Ebola victims. 

Funerals were a major source of virus transmission during the worst ever Ebola epidemic in 2014-2016.

Each Ebola burial costs the equivalent of £400 for, among other things, the protective gear for workers.

The Congo Ebola epidemic has escalated sharply over the past month.

The health ministry says 20 per cent of all cases since August have been reported in just the last three weeks.

Health experts warn that because of security issues it has been difficult getting into some areas to vaccinate those most at risk.

‘The number of new cases continues to rise, in part due to repeated incidents of violence affecting the ability of response teams to immediately identify and create vaccination rings around all people at risk of contracting Ebola,’ the WHO said in a statement. 

‘The number of new cases continues to rise, in part due to repeated incidents of violence affecting the ability of response teams to immediately identify and create vaccination rings around all people at risk of contracting Ebola,’ the WHO said in a statement. 

Dr. Osman Dar, a global health expert at Chatham House and member of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh and Public Health England, said the death toll could spiral to rival the 11,310 who were killed in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone five years ago, he said. 

Dr Osman Dar, a global health expert at Chatham House and member of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh and Public Health England, said the death toll could spiral to rival the 11,310 who were killed in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone five years ago, he said. 

The 2014 outbreak in West Africa began when an 18-month-old boy in Guinea got infected by a bat in December 2013, and the illness quickly spread to neighbouring countries.

By the time the World Health Organization released its first situation report in August 2014, more than 3,000 people had been infected and 1,546 killed.

A year later the number of cases had rocketed to 28,073 and 11,290 people had died.