The special Ebola coordinator, Julien Harneis, will on Wednesday travel to Bunia and other areas affected by the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, warning that the disease outbreak remains deadly.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in a statement on Wednesday, said Mr Harneis told journalists Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak remained “deadly and massive”.

Mr Harneis noted that while there has been progress in some places, cases continue to rise in others. He stressed the need to do more in areas with new transmission, as well as the urgency of much greater international solidarity through funding and the deployment of specialised medical teams.

OCHA said the Ebola outbreak affected seven provinces across the DRC, where health authorities, as of Sunday, reported over 7,200 confirmed cases and over 3,500 deaths.

It also noted encouraging signs in six health zones, where no new Ebola cases have been reported for over 42 days, with four others recording no new infections for over 21 days, while over 2,000 frontline health workers have been vaccinated in Tshopo and Bas-Uélé provinces.

OCHA said it recently convened local authorities, community leaders, and armed actors in North Kivu Province to support community outreach, contact tracing, and response activities.

OCHA reiterated the need for sustained international support to help contain the outbreak and ensure the delivery of life-saving assistance to affected communities.

It, however, vowed to keep working with partners to strengthen surveillance and community engagement in areas at heightened spread risk, adding that the UN and partners will keep supporting authorities in scaling up the response to the outbreak in the DRC.