The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has surpassed 4,000 confirmed cases, marking a new milestone in what has become the world’s second-largest recorded epidemic of the deadly virus.
Figures released by the country’s public health institute showed that 4,053 infections have now been confirmed, including 1,850 deaths.
The outbreak, which was officially declared on May 15, has spread across five provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.
Health experts believe the virus had been circulating for months before authorities formally identified the outbreak, raising concerns that the true number of infections could be significantly higher than official figures suggest.
A study published in the journal Science last month concluded that transmission may have begun in January, or possibly earlier, in Ituri province. Researchers identified more than 500 suspected cases between mid-January and the May 15 declaration.
The current epidemic has been described as the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record.
Public health efforts have been hampered by delays in detecting cases, overstretched disease surveillance systems, ongoing armed conflict and shortages of vaccines and treatments effective against the virus species responsible for the outbreak.
Those conditions have made it increasingly difficult for health authorities and aid organisations to trace infections and contain transmission across affected communities.
The Congo outbreak is now the second-largest Ebola epidemic ever recorded. Only the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak was larger, with more than 28,000 cases reported across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.