Britain said on Tuesday it would provide more than £50 million (more than R1 billion) in new funding to support efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where confirmed cases have surpassed 6,000 in the country’s largest-ever epidemic.
The number of deaths has surpassed 3,000, government data showed on Wednesday.
Britain allocated up to £20 million to the Ebola response in May, and the latest funding brings its total contribution to £78 million.
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The funding will support disease surveillance, frontline health workers, treatment access, infection control, community outreach and safe burials, Britain’s Foreign Office said. British public health experts have been deployed in Congo to support the efforts. “As the outbreak intensifies, we are accelerating our response to match the pace and scale of the challenge,” Britain’s Minister for Africa Kirsty McNeill said.
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The epidemic – the second-largest and fastest-spreading on record – was caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
- Britain announced over £50 million in new funding to combat the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising its total contribution to £78 million.
- The Ebola outbreak has resulted in more than 6,000 confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths in the DRC, marking the country's largest-ever epidemic.
- The new British funding will support disease surveillance, health workers, treatment access, infection control, community outreach, and safe burials.
- British public health experts have been deployed on the ground in Congo to assist with the Ebola response efforts.
- The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no approved vaccines or treatments.
