More than 80% of new Ebola infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being detected outside known contact lists, indicating that many chains of transmission are still going undetected, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday.
Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Tedros said the outbreak, declared two months ago, has become the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record and is spreading faster than any previous Ebola epidemic.
“So far, 2,073 cases have been reported, with 796 deaths,” he said, noting that the 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak in the DRC took more than 10 months to surpass 2,000 confirmed cases.
Tedros said Ituri province remains the WHO’s greatest concern due to intense transmission, adding that around two-thirds of Ebola-related deaths are occurring in communities where patients never receive treatment at health facilities.
Despite the worsening outbreak, he highlighted progress in the response, including the expansion of laboratory capacity from one facility to 16, an increase in treatment capacity to more than 800 beds, and contact tracing rates rising to nearly 80%.
The WHO chief also pointed to ongoing clinical trials of vaccines and treatments, including the ChAdOx1 vaccine, MBP134 monoclonal antibody therapy, remdesivir, and the antiviral drug obeldesivir.