DRC Ebola death toll passes 2,000 amid fastest-growing outbreak on record

More than 2,000 people have died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since its outbreak was declared fewer than three months ago.

At least 1,000 of the deaths have occurred in the last three weeks, according to official government data, as the virus continues to spread at an alarming rate.

A total of 4,381 Ebola cases across five provinces of the DRC have been confirmed as of Tuesday, including 2,011 deaths. It is the fastest-growing outbreak on record in the Central African country and is second in size only to the West African outbreak from 2014 to 2016, during which 11,310 people died.

The response to the outbreak has been complicated by several factors, including strikes by unpaid health workers, misinformation and cultural traditions. These have included intimate family burials of some of those killed by the virus, potentially increasing the risk of further transmission.

There is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola responsible for the DRC’s current outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week that vaccine trials were under way but that it would likely take months before the results were received.

On Monday, the WHO said the virus first surfaced in the country in February, three months before an outbreak was officially declared in the country and neighbouring Uganda on May 15.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that it had been alerted to a potential case of Ebola within its borders after one of its citizens returned from the DRC. In a series of posts on X, the ministry said tests had been performed after the person developed a fever. The results are expected within the next 24 hours, and the person remains in isolation.