WHO chief calls for urgent scaling up of Ebola response in DR Congo
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus has urged an immediate scale-up of the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo as cases rise rapidly. A new mobile laboratory has been established at the border with Uganda to improve diagnostic capacity and surveillance.
Why it matters
The rapid spread of Ebola in a densely populated border region poses a significant threat to regional health security and requires urgent international intervention.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading faster than partners can scale up the response, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus warned Wednesday. The latest outbreak in Congo has become the world's second-largest Ebola outbreak by recorded infections. At least 3,874 cases, including 1,751 deaths, have been recorded since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, according to the latest Health Ministry situation report. The case fatality rate stands at 45.1%. Tedros was in Kinshasa, where he met health and humanitarian partners supporting the Ebola response to discuss the challenges. The outbreak is 'spreading faster than our scale up of the response, with new cases doubling in some hotspots over the past week alone,' he said in a post on the US social media company X.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in