The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is accelerating at a faster rate than any previous outbreak, stressing that the epidemic remains far from being under control amid fears of it spreading to more neighboring countries.
Tedros stated during an emergency meeting dedicated to discussing the outbreak's developments: "We have to be frank: the epidemic is far from under control," adding that the virus has outpaced the response efforts "by a significant margin," and authorities and health agencies are still trying to keep up with its spread.
This warning came after Congolese authorities announced the death of over 2,300 individuals out of about 5,000 cases, making this outbreak the deadliest of Ebola in the country's history, surpassing the toll from the 2018-2020 wave.
The authorities officially announced the 17th outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 15, but estimates suggest that the virus had been spreading for weeks before being discovered and announced.
Infections have spread to areas in the north and east of the country, where the health response faces significant challenges due to the weak presence of state institutions and lack of medical infrastructure, alongside the activity of armed groups for decades.
The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee held its second meeting on Tuesday since declaring on May 17 that the outbreak constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern," which is the organization's second-highest alert level.
The date for the new committee's recommendations is not immediately clear, as the organization monitors the virus's rapid spread and the likelihood of it crossing borders.
The WHO classifies the public health risk as "very high" within the Democratic Republic of Congo, "high" in Uganda and neighboring countries, and "low" in the rest of Africa and the world.
Cases have been recorded in six Congolese provinces, including areas near the border with South Sudan, and cases have been detected in Uganda, raising concerns about the virus's potential to spread to additional countries.
Tedros confirmed that the risk of the epidemic continuing to spread locally and internationally remains high, warning that the current outbreak is spreading "faster than any previous Ebola outbreak."
The seriousness of the current figures becomes evident when compared to the Democratic Republic of Congo's 2018-2020 outbreak, which was considered the deadliest in the country's history, causing 2,299 deaths out of 3,381 confirmed cases, according to WHO data.
Thus, the death toll of the current outbreak has already surpassed the 2018-2020 wave toll, indicating the magnitude of the challenge facing the health authorities.
The deadliest global Ebola outbreak hit West Africa between 2013 and 2016, claiming the lives of over 11,300 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
With a continuous rise in cases and the geographical spread of the virus, concerns are now focused on the capacity of response teams to contain chains of infection in hard-to-reach areas and prevent the health crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo from becoming a wider regional outbreak.