KINSHASA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has surpassed 3,000, as the United Nations (UN) warned that the virus is spreading faster than response efforts.
As of Aug. 31, the DRC had recorded 6,186 confirmed cases and 3,007 deaths, according to an official situation report. A total of 1,409 patients have recovered, while 830 others remain in isolation or Ebola treatment centers.
The outbreak has affected 60 health zones across the six provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo, South Kivu and Bas-Uele. Ituri remains the epicenter, accounting for 81.9 percent of all confirmed cases nationwide.
During Tuesday's online briefing, Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, warned that the virus was still outpacing the scaled-up response.
"Unless we scale up urgently, more lives will be lost and the threat will grow," he said.
According to Fletcher, nearly 11 million people in the DRC already need humanitarian assistance, while conflict-driven displacement, acute food insecurity and malnutrition are compounding the health emergency.
An incremental response is no longer sufficient for an exponentially growing epidemic, Fletcher said, urging a sustained, large-scale operation involving expanded treatment capacity, more safe and dignified burial teams, and better access for humanitarian personnel and supplies.
The UN official also revealed that over 40 health workers have died from Ebola while responding to the outbreak, while treatment centers and ambulances have also come under attack.
Following the DRC's launch of a vaccination campaign with the Ervebo vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently issued updated emergency guidance on the use of Ervebo, currently the only licensed Ebola vaccine available.
Ervebo was prequalified by the WHO in 2019 for the prevention of the disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus.
The two viruses cause clinically similar Ebola disease, but are genetically and antigenically distinct, and the extent to which immunity induced by Ervebo can provide clinically meaningful protection against Bundibugyo virus remains unknown, the WHO said.
Current evidence does not support the programmatic use of Ervebo to prevent Bundibugyo virus disease, the WHO noted, suggesting that it be used against the virus only within a research protocol.
The health organization also stressed that vaccination must not replace established outbreak-control measures, including surveillance, rapid diagnosis, isolation and clinical management, infection prevention and control, comprehensive contact tracing, and safe and dignified burials.
The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision has approved an immediate initial release of 70,000 doses of Ervebo following a request from the DRC government. Of the allocation, 20,000 doses will be used in a Phase 3 clinical trial to assess the vaccine's impact against the Bundibugyo virus, while 50,000 doses are intended for frontline and health workers.
The current outbreak, declared in May, has since become the country's largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic on record and the second-largest globally, behind the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa. ■