WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Local officials in the DR Congo reported on Tuesday that deaths from the Ebola virus disease have surpassed 2,000, with half of them occurring in the last 20 days.
The current Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo species was declared by DRC health officials on May 15, and declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization two days later.
With more than 4,000 confirmed cases, it is both the second-largest and the fastest-growing on record. Only West Africa's 2014 to 2016 outbreak, which saw more than 11,000 deaths, was larger.
Just three months into this Ebola emergency, the death toll is already close to the total number of people killed in the epidemic that lasted from 2018 to 2020, that saw fewer overall cases.
Alarmed by the virus's rapid spread, local health officials have recently raised concerns that the virus could be mutating.
In response, the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention met WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently to investigate the threat of the virus mutating.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain.
Vaccine trials have been authorized in Canada and the UK, though results are likely to come out after several months, according to WHO. Treatment trials are underway in the DRC's Ituri province - the epicenter of the outbreak.
Julian Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola coordinator in the DRC, said aid workers, organizations, governments, donors and local communities 'must do more, and do it today, to save lives and stop Ebola.'
The Ebola Bundibugyo virus is proving hard to control in eastern DRC because of ongoing violence by non-State armed groups in the remote and mineral-rich region and a lack of accessible healthcare for vulnerable populations.
In addition, at least a dozen facilities treating Ebola have been attacked, largely due to fear, misinformation and deep community mistrust of outside authorities.
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