The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with 2,325 deaths recorded since it was declared on 15 May, public health officials said.
The death toll has surpassed that of the country’s 2018 to 2020 outbreak. On Sunday, DR Congo’s Institute of Public Health reported 4,945 confirmed cases, including 101 recorded in the previous 24 hours.
The World Health Organization has described the pace of transmission as “exceptional”. The virus has spread to six of DR Congo’s 26 provinces, while years of conflict and a highly mobile population have complicated efforts to contain it.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned last week that the outbreak was the fastest growing on record and that “the epidemic is killing someone every 30 minutes”.
Reuters reported that the current outbreak reached 2,000 deaths in less than three months. By comparison, the 2014 to 2016 outbreak in West Africa, the deadliest globally, took nearly five months to reach 1,000 fatalities.
There is no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo species driving the outbreak. The UK’s medicines regulator has authorised the first human trials of a University of Oxford vaccine candidate based on technology used for the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
Three other groups are also developing vaccines for the Bundibugyo species. The WHO is separately supporting a clinical trial in DR Congo to assess whether two existing antiviral therapies can improve survival rates.
As of 12 August, 20 cases had been confirmed in neighbouring Uganda, while two people had been treated in Germany and one case was declared in France.
The WHO said it hoped to reverse the spread within three months, while noting that bringing transmission under control would not mean the outbreak had ended.
