Nobel winner Denis Mukwege on Wednesday said he had resigned as head of a coronavirus taskforce in an eastern province of DR Congo, blaming organisational problems, outpaced strategy and slow testing.

Mukwege, a DR Congo gynaecologist who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his work against sexual violence in war, was appointed on March 30 to lead a committee in South Kivu province.

Panzi Hospital, where Mukwege treats abused women, is also located in the province.

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"We are at the start of an exponential... curve (in infections) and we can no longer apply a strategy that would be purely preventive," Mukwege said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has declared 4 390 infections, including 3 980 in Kinshasa and 89 in South Kivu and a total of 96 deaths.