The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 2,000 cases, with 754 deaths recorded, according to Congolese health authorities. The World Health Organization warns that the actual scale may be two to four times larger than official figures suggest.
Outbreak Spreads Across Five Provinces
The latest figures released Wednesday show the outbreak has spread to five provinces in the central African country. The Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, is driving the epidemic. The first clinical trial of an antiviral drug, obeldesivir, began Tuesday, the WHO said.
MSF Warns of Unprecedented Pace
NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned Wednesday that the outbreak is spreading at an unprecedented pace into new areas, calling for an urgent scaling up of the medical response. “In less than five weeks, the number of confirmed cases has tripled,” while “the number of deaths has increased more than fivefold,” MSF said in a French statement. The aid group added that the outbreak has already surpassed half the number of cases recorded during the 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic in the DRC, which lasted nearly two years.
Unknown Chains of Transmission
WHO emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu said on Tuesday that 80 percent of new cases were not on known contact lists and came from “unknown chains of transmission.” He expressed alarm that many newly reported cases are people who died without ever reaching a health facility.
Clinical Trial for Antiviral Drug
The clinical trial, called EBO-PEP, is evaluating the effectiveness of obeldesivir in people exposed to confirmed Bundibugyo cases. The experimental drug, developed by US pharma firm Gilead Sciences, has shown promise in pre-clinical models against filoviruses, the family of viruses that cause haemorrhagic fevers.
Outbreak Declared in May
The outbreak was declared on May 15 after several cases in Ituri, a mineral-rich northeastern province where armed groups frequently carry out deadly attacks.
