Ebola outbreak has spread to new province in Congo, the head of Africa CDC says

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to a sixth province, Bas-Uele, according to Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya. The outbreak, which began in May, has now recorded over 4,300 cases and 2,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the epidemic is spreading at an alarming velocity and is on track to become the deadliest in recorded history, eclipsing the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016, which claimed at least 11,000 lives. According to the WHO, the current outbreak has recorded 4,499 confirmed cases and 2,061 deaths across five provinces and 53 health zones.

The WHO hopes to reverse the spread of Ebola within three months, but notes that bringing transmission under control will not mean the end of the outbreak, as surveillance efforts will need to continue to prevent a resurgence. The disease is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, a rare strain that has previously caused only two documented outbreaks.

Brief written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour, GBC Ghana, Premium Times, Euronews, Free Malaysia Today — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.