UN warns Ebola outbreak in DR Congo is growing 'exponentially' as deaths pass 2,500
The UN's senior Ebola coordinator says the outbreak ravaging the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expanding exponentially, with over 2,500 deaths in the past three months — half of them in just the last 20 days. It is already the largest and fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak in the country's history.
Julien Harneis, the United Nations' senior Ebola coordinator, told reporters in Geneva on Friday, speaking from the outbreak's epicentre in Bunia, that the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is now growing "exponentially." According to the latest figures, more than 2,500 people have died over the past three months, with half of those deaths occurring in just the last 20 days.
Harneis said the epidemic has spread widely and now covers an area larger than France. He described it as growing faster and wider than the response effort itself, making it the most severe and fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak the country has ever recorded.
The largest outbreak on record
This is the DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak, officially declared on 15 May, though it is believed to have already been circulating for several weeks beforehand. The outbreak has hit regions in the north and east of the country, areas where state presence is weak, health infrastructure is largely absent, and numerous armed groups have operated for decades.
Call for urgent action
Harneis stressed the need to scale up the response urgently. He said that with additional staffing and resources directed to remote areas in the eastern DRC, transmission could be slowed within months and the outbreak eventually stopped. Without such action, he warned, the epidemic would become more deadly, spread further, and risk crossing into neighbouring countries.
