WHO chief: Congo Ebola outbreak outpacing response efforts

The Democratic Republic of Congo is grappling with its fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, which is spreading quicker than containment efforts, according to the World Health Organization chief. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited the Central African nation, where he noted that new cases are doubling in some hotspots nearly three months after the outbreak began.

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We all agree that we must urgently and massively scale up all our efforts across all pillars of the response and by all partners.

Dr. Tedros emphasized the urgent need to scale up all response efforts with all partners. The outbreak has already resulted in 3,874 confirmed cases and 1,751 deaths as of Monday, according to the Congolese Ministry of Health. The WHO director-general described the situation as "spreading at an alarming and unprecedented rate."

Compounding the crisis, many frontline health workers in Ituri province, the outbreak's epicenter, have gone on strike due to unpaid wages. This has worsened access to healthcare in an area already challenged by rebel conflict. Anicet Baluku, a resident of Bunia, blamed the strike for the deaths of his two brothers from Ebola, urging authorities to find a swift solution.

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We urge the authorities to quickly find a solution to prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy.

The United States has pledged an additional $242 million for immediate Ebola response and preparedness, bringing its total direct assistance to over $512 million. The current outbreak is the second-largest on record, surpassing all previous ones in its speed of transmission, though still behind the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak. Doctors Without Borders noted that while the response is expanding, it is not reaching communities quickly enough to break transmission chains.

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The response is expanding but is still not reaching communities quickly enough to break transmission chains.