DRC Ebola outbreak two to four times bigger than official scale, says WHO

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be four times bigger than official figures suggest.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, WHO's Emergencies Director said "We think with some of our support in modelling that the scale of the outbreak is at least two to four times the number of cases that we have found. Every day, our capacity to find cases are increasing and improving so the confidence in the numbers keeps improving day to day."

According to the DRC's latest official figures, the outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever has infected more than 1,960 people and killed over 700 since it was detected in mid-May. According to official numbers, this is already one of the largest Ebola outbreaks recorded, with the virus spreading faster than ever seen before.