The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has now claimed more than 2,000 lives, with half of those deaths recorded in just the last 20 days.
Responding to the latest government figures, Julien Harneis, a senior UN official in the DRC, urged all those involved in the response to “do more, and do it today, to save lives and stop Ebola”.
The outbreak is the fastest-growing on record since it was officially declared in mid-May.
The Ebola Bundibugyo virus has proved difficult to control in eastern DRC, where ongoing violence by non-state armed groups in the remote, mineral-rich region, combined with a lack of accessible healthcare for vulnerable populations, has hampered the response.
Just three months into the emergency, the death toll is already close to the total number of people killed during the 2018-2020 epidemic.
