DR Congo Ebola outbreak becomes country's deadliest on record

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now claimed more lives than any previous epidemic in the nation's history. Government data released Sunday shows 2,325 deaths, surpassing the 2,299 fatalities from the 2018-2020 outbreak.

The current outbreak, designated as Congo's 17th, has also seen a significant rise in confirmed cases, reaching 4,945. This includes 101 new cases identified within the last 24 hours. The outbreak had already become the country's largest in terms of case numbers by late July.

While the current epidemic is the deadliest in Congo's history, it is the world's second-largest Ebola outbreak overall. The 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic recorded 11,310 deaths and 28,616 cases across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Notably, the current outbreak in Congo reached 2,000 deaths in less than three months, a grim milestone that took nearly five months to achieve during the West Africa epidemic.