Medical worker performing disinfection before burying deceased person infected with Ebola in DR Congo. Xinhua file photo.
Geneva: The Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now killing a victim every 30 minutes, a top UN humanitarian official said Friday, calling for greater international action.
"The outbreak is the fastest growing on record," Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said in a statement. "We need speed, scale and solidarity before this virus gets even further ahead of us."
The outbreak has killed at least 2,128 people out of more than 4,500 confirmed cases since being declared in the DRC on May 15 and the UN has already said it is on course to become the deadliest Ebola eruption ever.
"Ebola is winning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We cannot let the virus outrun our response," Fletcher said as he outlined the latest efforts to contain the virus, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes a haemorrhagic fever.
"The epidemic is killing someone every 30 minutes," said Fletcher, who warned that "many more people are at risk".
Fletcher said countries had now donated nearly $300 million to a fund to combat the outbreak.
After a meeting of UN agencies, he said he had allocated another $30.5 million from an emergency UN fund, which would be added to $24 million already allocated to help the DRC and four other countries to tackle the outbreak.
Cases have been reported in six DRC provinces, as well as Uganda. Cases have also been reported near the border with South Sudan.
