The head of the World Health Organization has issued an emotional plea to people in the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, promising to lead efforts to contain the virus from the front. In an open letter published hours before he was set to arrive in Ituri, the region in the north-east of the Congo which accounts for 90 per cent of the 1,200 suspected Ebola cases recorded so far, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “I will not be managing this from a comfortable office far away, I will be there in person, doing everything in my power to help you.” The long and highly personal message, which was published on X in both English and Lingala, a language spoken widely in Ituri, is aimed at countering rising mistrust with the authorities battling the outbreak. “I am writing to you as someone who knows your region, who has walked your streets, and who cares deeply about what happens to you and your families,” he wrote in the letter.…