At least 2,700 people have died from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with about 500 new cases emerging weekly.

UN secretary-general António Guterres warned that the worsening Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak could claim more lives unless the international community urgently expands funding and containment efforts.

Mr Guterres also warned that global indifference could worsen the Ebola crisis in DRC.

Mr Guterres told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that urgent international action and additional financing were required to prevent the epidemic from spreading further.

“The challenge is immense,” he said, warning that the humanitarian response was only 48 per cent funded while available resources could last merely weeks. We know how to contain Ebola, how to interrupt transmission and how to save lives,” the UN chief said. “But we must also overcome another virus: the virus of indifference.”

Mr Guterres appealed for an additional $1.1 billion, warning that critical operations risked exhausting their funding just when the response needed substantial expansion.

“Without additional funding, vital operations will run out of money at the very moment they need to ramp up,” he warned.

The World Health Organisation said interventions had slowed transmission but had yet to reverse the overall trend as insecurity, displacement and weak health systems complicated containment efforts.

WHO warned the outbreak was spreading through areas battered by decades of conflict, where more than 12 million people required humanitarian assistance and protection.

In Ituri Province alone, about one million people had been displaced, increasing difficulties associated with surveillance, contact tracing, treatment and prevention, WHO stressed.

Insecurity has compounded the health emergency, with more than 40 healthcare workers killed and treatment centres and ambulances attacked during the response.

UN humanitarian agencies said responders were consequently fighting both Ebola and violence, while insecurity continued to make some affected communities difficult to reach.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said partners had deployed 35 additional safe and dignified burial teams and 286 community-based teams involving more than 2,500 volunteers and civil protection personnel.

WHO had also deployed more than 260 experts and delivered over 330 tonnes of essential medical and logistical supplies to support treatment, surveillance and containment operations.

The World Food Programme is supporting frontline operations and medical evacuations through the UN Humanitarian Air Service, while IOM has screened more than one million people regionally.

International Organisation for Migration also launched a preparedness plan covering 11 countries as concern grows about cross-border transmission, particularly into neighbouring Burundi.

WHO said Burundi has recorded no confirmed cases but is strengthening laboratory procedures, response guidelines, and public awareness because of its proximity to affected Congolese areas.

Meanwhile, WHO has declared Uganda free of its Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak after 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case, following 20 infections and two deaths.

The 42-day benchmark, equivalent to twice the upper limit of Ebola’s incubation period, is the internationally established criterion for determining that an outbreak has ended.

(NAN)