DRC's Ebola outbreak surpasses 2,000 cases

On 1 August last year, the World Health Organization officially declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since then (as of 4 June 2019), there have been 2,025 cases of the disease - 1,931 confirmed and 94 probable - resulting in 1,357 deaths - 1,263 confirmed and 94 probable.

Commenting on the new figures, Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme, told the BBC: "We are entering a very new phase of high impact epidemics and this isn't just Ebola", adding:"I don't think we've ever had a situation where we're responding to so many emergencies at one time. This is a new normal, I don't expect the frequency of these events to reduce".