The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is "growing exponentially" and risks spilling over into neighboring countries unless containment efforts are stepped up, the UN's senior Ebola coordinator said Friday.
The outbreak is already the deadliest in the country's history, with more than 2,500 deaths from over 5,000 infections.
"The epidemic is spreading widely. It's now covering an area that is bigger than France," UN senior Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis told journalists, adding that half of the 2,500 deaths had been reported in the last 20 days alone.
"It is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response."
He stressed that aid funding and the delivery of resources to remote areas needed to be urgently ramped up to slow and eventually stop the virus's transmission.
