Deadly Ebola outbreak spirals as death toll hits record high and fears grow over UK spread

The confirmed death toll in the current Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has reached 5,000, with information from their health ministry showing that of the 10,351 who have been infected there have been 5,026 lives lost.

It means that almost half of the confirmed Ebola cases have resulted in deaths, with this latest outbreak starting in May and being caused by the Bundibugyo virus which there is no vaccine available for.

This has become the fastest growing Ebola outbreak in history, and has spread to Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and France, though the latter two countries have no currently active cases at the moment.

Kenya has recorded eight confirmed cases and two deaths, while the sole confirmed case in Nigeria was evacuated to Switzerland for treatment.

It's the second deadliest outbreak in history, a two-year spread of Ebola between 2014 and 2016 killed 11,000 people across West Africa but with this strain reaching almost half that death toll in a matter of months it has raised concerns.

This is already the second deadliest Ebola outbreak on record (Tony KARUMBA / AFP via Getty Images)

Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, compared the latest Ebola outbreak to the spread of Covid, warning countries they were 'not safe if they don’t take appropriate measures'.

The actual scale of the outbreak may be larger than confirmed as DR Congo has issues with tracing the spread of the disease since it is largely concentrated in the east of the country where various armed groups are fighting the government.

Distrust and disbelief has also hampered efforts to assess the scale of the outbreak, with health workers and medical facilities being attacked by the public.

Last week a nurse responding to an alert of Ebola was killed.

Concerns have been raised in other countries about the spread of disease, though Dr Sam Collins, Head of Guidance, Clinical and Public Health Response at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told LADbible that the chances of it spreading to the UK public are low.

Roughly half the confirmed cases of this Ebola outbreak have died, with DR Congo bearing the brunt of cases (Luis TATO / AFP via Getty Images)

“The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and surrounding areas is very serious, but the risk to the general public within the UK remains low," the doctor explained of the risk to the UK.

"The UK is well prepared to respond safely and effectively to the risk of imported cases arising here. UKHSA continues to work with partners including the World Health Organization to monitor the situation closely.

"UKHSA is operating the Returning Workers Scheme to support and monitor people, including healthcare and humanitarian workers, returning to the UK from DRC, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Kenya and Nigeria and affected areas in Uganda."

Ebola cases in travellers returning from affected countries are rare, and the NHS has procedures to deal with the possibility including specialist centres where people can be taken for treatment.

The UKHSA is also assessing routes people are entering the UK from to make information available to those entering from affected countries so they know how to access care.