The runaway Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has passed 5,000 cases, government data showed Wednesday, as responders warned a global health emergency is now unfolding.
AP reports data from Congo’s Ministry of Health showed the outbreak had so far recorded 5,021 cases, including 2,378 deaths as of Sunday, as it rages in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fueled by insecurity, displacement and intense population movements.
The virus is spreading faster than any previous outbreak in the nation and has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other similar deadly malady in recorded history.
World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the international spread cannot be ruled out and the world must stand ready and prepare for the worst, repeating a warning he made three months ago.
The outbreak “has spread rapidly and the risk of further national and international spread remains high,” he said, before adding, “We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control.”
The outbreak is the 17th in the DRC and is now the deadliest, exceeding the number of people killed during the 2018 to 2020 outbreak – 2,299.
Ebola is rare but highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing. The disease it causes is severe and often fatal.
Meanwhile the first volunteer to receive an experimental vaccine for this strain of Ebola received his jab in the United Kingdom last month, as Breitbart News reported.
Hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine, produced by scientists at Oxford University, have already been manufactured in India and are ready for immediate use if the trials are successful.
Scientists are appealing for volunteers to step forward, roll up their sleeves, and receive injections of the trial vaccines to help in developing the best response mechanisms.
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