Ebola outbreak deadliest in Congo’s history as death toll passes 2,300

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The death toll from the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached 2,325, making it the deadliest in the country’s history, the Public Health Institute in Kinshasa reported on Monday.

In the Congo’s previous largest Ebola outbreak between 2018 and 2020, 2,299 people died.

The number of confirmed cases has risen to 4,945, according to the institute. It is the 17th documented Ebola outbreak in the country of around 112 million.

The only larger outbreak of the disease occurred in West Africa, where more than 28,500 cases were recorded and 11,310 people died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.

The World Health Organization fears that the current outbreak in Congo could reach unprecedented proportions. According to the WHO, during the first three months of the current outbreak, the number of cases and deaths was already several times higher than during the comparable first three months of the West African outbreak.

The current outbreak in Congo was reported in mid-May. It is particularly difficult to contain because it involves the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently neither a specific vaccine nor a specific treatment.

Clinical trials of two antiviral treatments have been under way since early July. Given the severity of the outbreak, authorities also want to determine whether the virus may have mutated.