Britain has pledged up to £20 million, or about $26.9 million, in new funding to support efforts to contain a growing Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UK Foreign Office said on Thursday.
The announcement comes as health authorities struggle to contain the outbreak, which has spread across parts of eastern Congo and reached neighbouring Uganda.
As of Wednesday, Congo had recorded 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, according to the figures cited by British officials. Fifty-one cases have been confirmed through laboratory testing in Congo, while two infections have also been confirmed in Uganda.
The World Health Organization has warned that the outbreak is expected to continue expanding, raising concerns over the capacity of health teams already operating in difficult conditions in eastern Congo.
The UK funding will support the WHO, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations working on the response. British officials said the money would help strengthen surveillance, protect frontline health workers, and improve infection prevention and control measures.
The UK Health Security Agency is also assessing travel routes into Britain from affected countries. It has activated a programme to monitor and protect people travelling from the UK to outbreak areas for work.
The response comes amid growing international concern over the spread of the disease, particularly in areas where insecurity, displacement and weak health infrastructure make containment more difficult.
Ebola is a severe and often deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people or contaminated materials. Rapid detection, isolation, contact tracing and protection of health workers are considered critical to stopping transmission.