Local authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Wednesday that the confirmed death toll from the latest Ebola outbreak has risen to 115.
The Ministry of Information stated in a statement that the total number of confirmed cases of the virus has reached 598 since the disease began spreading in the east of the country last April.
The World Health Organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had warned earlier this month that the outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo “remains out of control.”
In a related development, 19 more cases and two deaths have been confirmed so far in neighboring Uganda, which has also been affected by the disease.
It is worth noting that the World Health Organization classified this outbreak, immediately after it was announced, as a "public health emergency of international concern," which requires an urgent global response and coordination.
Ebola is a life-threatening disease, and the virus is transmitted through direct physical contact and contact with bodily fluids secreted by infected individuals.
The current outbreak is extremely difficult to contain and control, partly because there is still no vaccine or specific treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain causing this wave of Ebola virus.
