DR Congo Ebola cases top 8,000 as WHO warns outbreak still expanding

Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have surpassed 8,000, the DRC health authorities said Monday, as the World Health Organization warned that the outbreak remains large, geographically expanding and marked by sustained transmission.

As of Saturday, the country had recorded 8,067 confirmed cases, including 3,901 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 48.4 percent, according to the latest government situation report released on Monday. A total of 2,070 patients have recovered. Since it was declared in May, the outbreak has evolved into the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the DRC and the second-largest Ebola outbreak globally, after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic.