Ebola cases in DRC hit 5,515 as Pope Leo urges global action to save lives

Case fatality rate climbs to nearly 48 percent in the DRC, meaning almost one in two people infected with Ebola are dying.The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached 5,515 confirmed cases of infection and killed 2,642 people, with 51 new cases detected in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, according to the latest government figures.The update on Sunday came as Pope Leo called for ⁠international action to help contain the epidemic, which is now the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the DRC’s history.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3How the deadliest Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak can be stoppedlist 2 of 3DR Congo miners risk Ebola to make a livinglist 3 of 3Ebola continues to spread in the DRC as 16,000 vaccine doses arriveend of listDeclared in mid-May, it is the DRC’s 17th Ebola epidemic and was designated a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), its highest alert level, also covering neighbouring Uganda.The outbreak is now on track to surpass the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record, which was the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people.According to government figures, th...