In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country's history has already claimed the lives of 2,325 people, while the number of infections continues to rise rapidly. Bloomberg reports this, citing the Congo's National Institute of Public Health, writes UNN.
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In just the past week, 365 people died from Ebola — an average of one death every 28 minutes. Since the outbreak began in May, nearly 5,000 confirmed cases of infection have been recorded in the country.
The previous deadliest Ebola outbreak in the Congo lasted from 2018 to 2020 and claimed the lives of 2,299 people. At the same time, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher said that the epidemic is doubling approximately every 20 days.
UN warns of the virus's rapid spread
Ebola is gaining the upper hand in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We cannot allow the virus to outpace our efforts
According to him, it is necessary to increase the number of teams conducting safe burials, triple treatment capacity, and strengthen contact tracing.
The UN has already allocated an additional $30.5 million to combat the outbreak, while a further $24 million was previously directed to the Congo and neighboring countries. Twenty additional humanitarian workers were sent to the epicenter of the epidemic.
The situation among healthcare workers remains particularly difficult. According to the WHO, as of August 9, at least 155 healthcare workers had been infected with the virus, 45 of whom had died.
The outbreak is also placing additional strain on the Congo's healthcare system, which is already suffering from prolonged conflict, population displacement, and cuts in humanitarian funding.