Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have surpassed 10,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, underlining the need for sustained efforts to contain the disease. Government data released on Tuesday put confirmed cases at 10,060 and deaths at 4,887 since the outbreak was declared on 15 May.

Source: UN News / WHO

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare strain for which no vaccine or treatment has been approved. It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in Congo's history and, with nearly half of those confirmed infected having died, also the deadliest in the country, according to data from the DRC Ministry of Public Health reported by the Associated Press and Reuters. Globally, the wider outbreak is now the second-largest and second-deadliest on record, behind only the 2014-2016 West African epidemic, which infected more than 28,600 people and killed more than 11,000.

Source: Reuters via SRN News

WHO Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Janabi said the DRC was recording 50 to 80 new cases a day and warned that many infections were being missed. "We are only seeing 30 percent [of infected people], while 70 percent of people are dying at home. This is why this Ebola is different," Janabi said, in remarks reported on Wednesday. About 80 percent of new cases are coming from outside the transmission chains health authorities are monitoring, reports said, while the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has said at least 95 percent of cases must come from known contacts for an outbreak to be considered under control.

Spread to Kenya and Nigeria, and $2 million in UN support for Kenya

Kenya has recorded nine Ebola cases, including two deaths, UN News reported. All are linked to the country's first case — a Kenyan man working in the DRC who flew to Nairobi via Uganda on 3 October and died two days later. More than 130 contacts were identified and placed under quarantine, and 20 have since been discharged. A UN humanitarian fund has allocated more than $2 million to boost preparedness and response in Kenya — yaani about 20 lakh US dollars — through the Kenya Humanitarian Fund managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, for surveillance at border crossings, training rapid response teams and supplying emergency health materials.

Nigeria last week became the fourth African country to report a case, Reuters reported. Health officials have been seeking to work out how the patient — the wife of a Swiss diplomat, who had not travelled to Congo — contracted the disease; the Swiss government said she was believed to have contracted it in Uganda, and she and her husband were flown to hospitals in Switzerland on Monday. Uganda reported 20 cases in May and June, mostly imported from Congo, and was declared Ebola-free by WHO in August, Ugandan officials say.

WHO said a first clinical trial for a vaccine against the strain had been rolled out, and its regional director said more than 2,600 people had recovered. Response efforts have also faced violence: over the weekend a nurse was killed and another health worker severely injured while answering an Ebola alert in Bafwasende, in Tshopo province, according to WHO reporting cited by Reuters.