An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resulted in the deaths of 2,011 people out of 4,381 confirmed cases, according to Congolese officials on Tuesday.

This toll brings it close to the DRC’s deadliest Ebola outbreak, which occurred between 2018 and 2020, resulting in nearly 2,300 deaths out of 3,500 recorded cases.

The current outbreak, which has primarily affected the DRC’s conflict-ridden eastern and northeastern regions, was declared on May 15 but is believed to have been spreading for several weeks prior.

This marks the DRC’s 17th surge of the highly contagious virus and is already considered the largest outbreak in the country’s history. Sania Nishtar, chief executive of the Gavi global vaccine alliance, has stated it “could well become the largest outbreak ever.”

The case fatality rate for the current outbreak is estimated by Congolese health authorities to be 45.9 percent.

On Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine experts recommended a full-scale human trial of the only existing approved Ebola vaccine to see if it offered cross-protection against the strain of Ebola currently spreading in the DRC against which no specific vaccine currently exists.

The Ervebo vaccine has proved safe and efficacious against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola virus, and WHO experts said that early data, notably from animal trials, showed it may also give some protection against the rare Bundibugyo strain exploding in the DRC.

Two potential Bundibugyo vaccines are in the early stages of clinical trials on humans, while a third is being worked on to bring it to that stage. (Tribune)