Daijiworld Media Network - Kinshasa

Kinshasa, Aug 15: The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spread to a sixth province, with confirmed cases rising to 4,665, the government said on Friday.

The health zone of Buta in the northern province of Bas-Uele has been added to the list of affected areas, taking the number of affected health zones across the country to 54, according to the latest update issued by public health authorities.

The outbreak is now affecting six provinces — Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tshopo — with northeastern Ituri continuing to be the main epicentre, Xinhua News Agency reported.

A total of 2,184 deaths have been recorded among confirmed cases, putting the case fatality rate at 46.8 per cent. Meanwhile, 965 people have recovered since the outbreak began.

The DRC declared the Ebola outbreak on May 15, identifying the causative virus as the Bundibugyo ebolavirus.

Amid the rapidly escalating outbreak, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for support for the immediate implementation of the DRC government's decision to deploy the Ervebo vaccine.

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya described the move as "a big step" in the response to the rare Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak during an online briefing on Thursday.

He said the DRC had already submitted a request for 100,000 doses of Ervebo to the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision.

Warning that the emergency "risks becoming the deadliest the country has faced", Kaseya said the requested doses would support clinical trials, vaccination of frontline responders and vaccination of people in urgent need.

The absence of licensed vaccines or targeted medical countermeasures specifically against the rare Bundibugyo strain has added to concerns over its rapid transmission in parts of the DRC.

Ervebo is a World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualified, single-dose vaccine against disease caused by the Zaire Ebola virus strain and has an established safety and deployment record.

Highlighting the vaccine's potential for cross-protection and the urgency of the current situation, Kaseya said deploying Ervebo was a strategic approach to reducing severe illness and deaths while generating the rigorous evidence needed to guide the broader response.