The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continued to worsen, with the number of confirmed infections rising to 2,973 and the death toll reaching 1,309, according to government figures released Saturday, underscoring the scale of what has become the country's fastest-growing Ebola epidemic in its early stages.
Data updated through Thursday showed a case fatality rate of about 44%, with 540 patients having recovered while another 766 remained hospitalized or in isolation.
Health officials said contact tracing had reached 73.9% of identified contacts, well below the 90% to 95% level considered necessary to effectively contain transmission.
The outbreak expanded further after a new health zone in Haut-Uele province reported infections, bringing the total number of affected health zones to 48. Active transmission is continuing in 47 of those zones.
The outbreak, officially declared on May 15 after cases emerged in northeastern Ituri province, marks the Democratic Republic of Congo's 17th Ebola epidemic since the virus was first identified in the country in 1976.
