More than 5,000 confirmed Ebola cases have now been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the death toll is nearing 2,400, according to Congolese figures relayed on Wednesday by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.
The data, covering the period up to last Sunday, show 5,021 confirmed cases in the country. A further 270 cases are considered suspected.
The fatality rate stands at 47%, while more than 1,060 people have recovered from the virus.
On Tuesday evening in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak remained a public health emergency of international concern, in line with recommendations from the organisation’s emergency committee of independent experts.
The WHO said it still believed the outbreak’s spread could be reversed within the next three months, provided the necessary resources could be deployed.
However, Tedros warned at the start of the emergency committee meeting that the epidemic was “far from being under control”.
