An Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo has a high risk of spreading internally, the World Health Organization warned ahead of a meeting on whether to declare it an event of international concern.
The fresh Ebola outbreak, publicly declared on May 8 with 23 deaths so far, was first reported in a rural part of Equateur Province in the vast country’s northwest but has now spread to the city of Mbandaka.
The WHO revised its assessment of the risk of spread of the epidemic to “very high” at the national level and “high” for neighbouring countries.
Globally the risk of the outbreak spreading is classified as “low”.