WHO chief warns Ebola response must ramp up to stem DRC outbreak

Number of people killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo from disease exceeds 3,000 amid response funding gap.The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that every transmission chain needs to be identified and broken if the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to be contained.Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Wednesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that until every chain is broken, the epidemic “will continue ⁠to pose a threat ⁠to [the] DRC, ⁠its neighbours and the region as a whole”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Ebola spreads to two new zones in DRC; 60 areas now affectedlist 2 of 3World Health Organization says Ebola outbreak in Uganda is overlist 3 of 3DRC: Ebola fears grow as children return to schoolend of listThe number of people killed in the DRC by the disease exceeded 3,000 on Wednesday, according to official government data.The outbreak is the fastest-growing in history, as well as the deadliest and largest the DRC has ever experienced. The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned that efforts to contain the virus are “below established response targets” and that the majority of cases are occurring outside of known contacts, comprising up to 80 percent of new cases.Response efforts have been further complicated by conflict in the DRC’s mineral-rich regions, poor infrastructure, strikes by unpaid healthcare workers and cultural traditions, including burial practices, that have contributed to the spread of Ebola.On Wednesday, Tedros said that it remained unclear how many individuals came in contact with the virus prior to their deaths.“That means there ⁠are chains of transmission we don’t know about,” he said.The response to the outbreak is also severely lacking in funds, which has only compounded the crisis, with the United Nations agency scrambling to reduce a funding gap of more than $1bn, the WHO chief said.