The United States (US) said it would provide an additional $38 million for Ebola response efforts, as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warned that without strong public health interventions the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could match or surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa crisis.
The additional funds bring the total committed by the US to more than $200 million in direct funding, the State Department said in a statement.
The department, which did not detail how the money would be spent, said it was working closely with the US CDC and Prevention, as well as the DRC and Uganda to “mount a rapid and comprehensive response” to the outbreak.
The CDC published three official scientific reports on the outbreak on Friday, in part to marshal resources across the international community, said Doctor Satish Pillai, the Incident Manager for the agency’s Ebola response.
The documents are the first such reports to be published since the World Health Organisation declared an emergency of international concern on May 17 over the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
The outbreak in the DRC has resulted in 452 confirmed cases of Ebola and 82 deaths, according to the DRC Health Ministry, which said on Friday that 71 new cases were confirmed in a 24-hour period and warned of rapid community transmission.
–Reuters–
