Ebola outbreak in DR Congo growing 'exponentially', death toll tops 2,500
The UN's senior Ebola coordinator says the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expanding exponentially, with more than 2,500 deaths recorded and half occurring in just the last 20 days.
The Ebola outbreak sweeping through the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing exponentially, the United Nations' senior Ebola coordinator, Julien Harneis, said on Friday, speaking from Bunia, the epicentre of the crisis, to reporters in Geneva. He reported that more than 2,500 people have died from the virus over the past three months, with half of those deaths occurring in just the last 20 days.
Harneis said the epidemic is spreading widely and now covers an area larger than France. According to him, the outbreak is growing faster and wider than the response effort can keep pace with.
Largest outbreak on record
This is the country's 17th Ebola outbreak, officially declared on May 15, though the virus is believed to have already been circulating for several weeks before that. It has become the largest outbreak in the country's history and is spreading faster than any Ebola outbreak previously recorded anywhere.
The disease has hit northern and eastern regions where state presence is weak, health infrastructure is largely absent, and numerous armed groups have operated for decades, complicating response efforts.
Call for more resources
Harneis stressed the urgent need to scale up the response. He said that with more staff and resources deployed to remote areas in eastern DR Congo, transmission could be slowed within months and eventually stopped. Without such an increase, he warned, the epidemic will become more deadly, continue spreading wider, and risks crossing into neighbouring countries.
