2,500 dead and rising — UN says DR Congo Ebola outbreak ‘growing exponentially’

The UN says more than 2,500 people have now died in an Ebola virus outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo Geneva – The Ebola outbreak raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing “exponentially”, with more than 2,500 deaths recorded and half of those in the last 20 days, the senior UN coordinator on the disease said Friday.

Cases and health response

According to the latest figures, the virus is “growing exponentially,” Julien Harneis told reporters in Geneva from Bunia, at the epicentre of the outbreak.

He said that in the last three months, “more than 2,500 people” had died, “and half of those in the last 20 days”.

“The epidemic is spreading widely. It’s now covering an area that is bigger than France….

It is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response.” The DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak is thought to have already been spreading for several weeks before it was officially declared on May 15.

Outbreak background

The Ebola outbreak is already the biggest in the country’s history and is spreading faster than any outbreak of the deadly virus on record.