More than 1,000 people have now been infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak, underscoring the speed and severity of a crisis that has already claimed more than 250 lives, according to official figures.
The country’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP) said it had confirmed 1,003 cases and 254 deaths, putting the fatality rate at 25%.
Authorities declared the latest outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever on 15 May.
Nearly all of the infections have been concentrated in Ituri province in the northeast, a region long scarred by conflict and the violence of armed groups.
The virus has also crossed into neighbouring Uganda, where the World Health Organization has recorded 20 cases and two deaths, although Kampala said earlier this month that the situation was “under control”.
This outbreak has been linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which has no vaccine or specific treatment.
Existing Ebola vaccines, developed between 2018 and 2019, work only against the Zaire strain, the variant behind previous major outbreaks.
The World Health Organization has declared an international public health emergency and warned that the outbreak could continue for months.
