Alarm bells are ringing over the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak is now expanding “exponentially” and the death toll has climbed beyond 2,500, according to the United Nations’ senior coordinator on the disease.
The epidemic is already the largest Ebola outbreak in the country’s history and, officials say, it is accelerating more quickly than any previous outbreak of the virus.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Bunia — described as the epicentre of the outbreak — Julien Harneis said the latest data show transmission is surging.
In just the past three months, he said, “more than 2,500 people” have died, “and half of those in the last 20 days”.
“The epidemic is spreading widely. It’s now covering an area that is bigger than France… It is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response.”
The DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak is believed to have been circulating for weeks before authorities officially declared it on 15 May.
It has struck northern and eastern regions where state presence is limited, health infrastructure is thin, and numerous armed groups have operated for decades — factors that complicate efforts to trace cases, isolate patients, and protect communities.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also issued a stark warning today, saying the outbreak is spreading “at an alarming rate”.
“This epidemic continues to spread, moving faster than the response can keep up,” MSF president Javid Abdelmoneim said in a statement.
Harneis urged a rapid escalation of the response, which has drawn criticism for being slow and poorly organised and has been further weakened by mistrust among parts of the population.
Cases reported in six DR Congo provinces
So far, cases have been recorded in six DRC provinces, including areas close to the border with South Sudan, and infections have also been detected in neighbouring Uganda.
Uganda, which recorded two deaths among 20 Ebola cases, declared itself free of the virus last month.
Health officials face a major scientific hurdle: there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo virus strain driving the current surge, though multiple trials are under way.
The World Health Organization said yesterday that the DRC is set to receive 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has shown effectiveness against the more common Zaire strain.
Earlier this month, WHO vaccine experts recommended launching a full-scale human trial of Ervebo — the only approved Ebola vaccine — to determine whether it can provide cross-protection against Bundibugyo.
Early evidence, including data from animal studies, suggests it may offer some protection, but “it is not yet known whether Ervebo is protective against the Bundibugyo virus in humans”, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier stressed today.
Containing Ebola — which spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes a haemorrhagic fever — has also been hindered by a range of security and operational obstacles.
Harneis pointed to deep instability and a fragile health system across eastern DRC.
“The law and order is undermined, and the basic services, particularly health, have been fragmented,” he said, calling the working environment “brutal”.
Since the outbreak began, around 160 healthcare workers have been infected, including 43 who have died, Harneis said, adding that attacks on ambulances and other frontline teams have repeatedly disrupted operations.
He also cited the country’s barely functioning banking system, which has made it difficult to pay outbreak workers, and said international funding cuts have reduced humanitarian organisations’ capacity by a third.
Harneis appealed for additional international backing.
“If we provide more staffing, if we get more resources into remote areas across… the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, within months we can slow the transmission and move to stopping it,” Mr Harneis said.
“If we do not… then this epidemic will become more deadly. It will spread wider and it risks to spread into neighbouring countries.”
