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(https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZjQ4ODc1MDAtODIyYS00YTM2LWEwYWEtYjIwOGU2OGY3NTQ2IiwidCI6IjBmOWUzNWRiLTU0NGYtNGY2MC1iZGNjLTVlYTQxNmU2ZGM3MCIsImMiOjh9&pageName=ReportSectionc9ce2e382b54b076179e) Global       (1168182.html#block-un-news-search-block-primary-content) Search  (form-D3j9H8FwWEy9qG2kfXo6wUDhEs9S1VCLVg2XDBVnSDA)  (un_news_search_block_form)  () (Search)   (Search) Search  (https://news.un.org/en/advanced-search) Advanced Search           Audio and Subscription  (https://news.un.org/en/audio-hub) (Audio Hub) Audio Hub    (https://news.un.org/en/content/un-newsletter-subscribe) (Subscribe) Subscribe              DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreading exponentially, UN responders warn       (Healthcare workers in full protective gear prepare for an Ebola vaccination campaign in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)       ©WHO/Grainne Harrington Health workers gather at an Ebola treatment centre in Bunia, in the eastern DR Congo.            (https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168182) (Share this via Facebook) Facebook (https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreading exponentially, UN responders warn&url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168182) (Share this via Twitter) Twitter (1168182.html) (Share this via Print) Print (mailto:?subject=DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreading exponentially, UN responders warn&body=https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168182) (Share this via Email) Email    DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreading exponentially, UN responders warn    By  Daniel Johnson in Geneva   21 August 2026   (https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/health) Health   As the deadliest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo’s history continued spreading on Friday, UN responders renewed their urgent appeal for immediate international support, with existing funding for lifesaving work critically low.               Key points  Ebola deaths reach 2,516 in DRC   Response funding could run out within weeks   Dozens of frontline healthcare workers among dead    “We're only covered for the next weeks, and very soon funding will run out ,” said Julien Harneis, UN Senior (https://www.who.int/health-topics/ebola) Ebola Coordinator. “Every delay in funding and implementation makes this epidemic more deadly, more difficult to stop and more expensive. So, we need that international support immediately.” Tweet URL    (https://twitter.com/UN_News_Centre/statuses/2090816205909082492)      Since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, 5,290 people have been infected 2,516 have died, according to latest health authority data published on Friday. Of the total confirmed number of cases, 1,152 people have recovered and nearly 840 people remain in isolation or hospitalized. The fatality rate is 47.6 per cent and contact follow-up is 82.9 per cent. Deadly progression Briefing journalists from the Ebola epicentre in Bunia, Ituri province, Mr. Harneis warned that the disease is “growing exponentially”, with half of all deaths occurring in just the last 20 days.  “The epidemic is spreading to an area that is bigger than France . And the outbreak is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response,” he stressed, as “brutal ” operating conditions continue to impede the progress of frontline workers.  Three months into the outbreak, 160 healthcare workers have contracted Ebola and 43 of them have died. “And then when we do respond, apart from the threat from the virus, healthcare workers and frontline workers have been attacked by youths, ambulances have been burned and stoned and the healthcare facilities have been attacked,” Mr. Harneis explained. “Conditions on the ground are extremely difficult, but we will continue deploying all the humanitarian and medical assistance needed until the job is done,” the veteran aid official said. “Last week, I was trying to get into an Ebola hotspot, and it took three hours to drive 60 kilometres (37 miles),” he added. Another key obstacle to the response is the lack of basic social services in the six eastern, provinces where the virus is spreading (Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uélé, Tshopo, and Bas-Uélé), a direct result of decades of violence in the resource-rich area.  Gaps in government-run, coordinated healthcare services and a limited number of banks have created further problems.  “In this area, the banking system barely functions,” Mr. Harneis explained. “We're unable to bring in the amount of money that is required to pay the workers, which has led to great unhappiness amongst frontline workers.” (A woman in a colorful patterned dress walks down a dirt path through rows of makeshift shelters in a refugee camp in Ituri Province, DRC.)    © UNOCHA/Ramatoulaye Moussa Maz A woman walks through a camp for displaced people in Ituri Province in the eastern DR Congo.   US aid boost And although the United States has contributed $80 million to the DRC Government to boost bed capacity and safe burial practices, among other support, cuts to aid work - especially in the last two years - have reduced the capacity of humanitarian organizations by more than 30 per cent, he added. Despite these challenges, multiple specialist UN agencies continue to work alongside the DRC authorities to push back Ebola. They include the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund ((https://www.unicef.org/) UNICEF ), the UN migration agency ((https://www.iom.int/) IOM ) and partners including Médecins Sans Frontières.  “It's a disease, it's an invisible threat which comes into your community and suddenly people start falling sick around you and your loved ones die,” Mr. Harneis said. “And that generates a lot of fear in any community.”                     ♦ Receive daily updates directly in your inbox - (https://news.un.org/en/content/un-newsletter-subscribe?utm_source=UN News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=un_news_newsletter) Subscribe here  to a topic. ♦ Download the UN News app for your (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/un-news-reader/id496893005?mt=8) iOS  or (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.un.mobile.news&hl=en) Android  devices.     (https://news.un.org/en/tags/ebola-virus-disease) Ebola Virus Disease              Related Stories  (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1167933)   (A midwife in a pink uniform helps a colleague adjust a face shield during a PPE practical session in North Kivu.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1167933) ‘This is a fire’: DRC Ebola outbreak is fastest-growing ever, warns WHO    (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168064)   (WHO medical personnel in full protective gear transport a stretcher near an ambulance at a construction site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168064) DR Congo: New centre opens at heart of record Ebola outbreak    (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1167983)   (A midwife in blue protective gear checks the temperature of a pregnant woman at a health center in a displacement camp in DR Congo during an Ebola outbreak.)      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