Geneva, Switzerland - The Ebola outbreak declared in May across both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda has now killed more than 1000 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.
In all, 2,473 cases of the deadly virus, including 999 deaths, have been confirmed in DRC, while 20 cases, including two deaths have been registered in neighboring Uganda, according to a recently released WHO overview.
The DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 after several deaths in Ituri, the DRC's mineral-rich northeastern province, which is plagued by armed groups and has been the source of most infections.
Cases of Ebola, which spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids, have also been found in four other DRC provinces.
The cases found in Uganda were mostly Congolese citizens who crossed the border. Kampala confirmed the country has gone three weeks without registering any new cases.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last week that the outbreak had "expanded faster than any previous outbreak" over the past month.
Despite a ramping up of the response, "the outbreak remains ahead of us and we are still in a phase of catching up," Thierno Balde, the WHO's incident manager for Bundibugyo virus in DRC, told reporters on Tuesday.
There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain behind this outbreak.
The WHO has, however, reported "encouraging progress" with trials for two potential treatments, a vaccine, and a post-exposure prophylaxis.