W.H.O. Says Ebola Global Threat ‘Low’ as Cases Surge in DR Congo

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) said on Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) began much earlier than previously suspected, and is spreading faster than anticipated, but the wider world still has no reason to fear the disease will spread beyond the DRC and neighboring Uganda.

“W.H.O. assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels, and low at the global level,” said the organization’s director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a press conference on Wednesday.

Tedros said there were several reasons for “serious concern about the potential for further spread and further deaths,” including the troubling length of time that Ebola spread in the eastern Congo before the outbreak was detected and containment procedures were implemented.

“First, beyond the confirmed Ebola cases, there are almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths. We expect those numbers to