The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with over 2,300 deaths reported, according to the latest official figures released on Sunday.
The DRC has recorded 4,945 confirmed cases, including 2,325 de@ths, since the current outbreak began, putting the case fatality rate at 47.0 percent, according to a situation report released Sunday by the country’s health authorities.
The latest de@th toll surpassed that of the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC, making the current epidemic the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the country.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC recorded 3,481 cases, including 2,299 deaths.
The current outbreak, the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in the country in 1976, was officially declared on May 15 and is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus.
The outbreak has affected 55 health zones across six provinces — Ituri, North Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo, South Kivu and Bas-Uele.
The WHO has warned that the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC could be the worst on record.
“It’s already the second-biggest Ebola epidemic on record, and it’s moving faster than any previous Ebola outbreak. At its current pace, it’s on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing in Geneva last Wednesday.