A medical officer is disinfected upon leaving hospital rooms for Ebola patients in Bunia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday. GLODY MURHABAZI/AFP
Global health leaders have called for strengthened international cooperation to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda and prevent its spread to neighboring countries.
Nearly 500 Ebola cases have now been confirmed in the deadly outbreak raging in central Africa, a WHO overview showed on Saturday, amid mounting concerns over the swelling scale of the epidemic.
The global appeal for strengthened international cooperation came during a high-level briefing on Friday by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC, and the WHO, which warned about the rapid spread of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus.
"The outbreak is moving fast and we are still playing catch-up. But my trip to the DRC also gave me real hope that together, under the government's leadership, we can bring this outbreak under control," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
