The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a total of 344 confirmed Ebola cases and 60 confirmed deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with 15 confirmed cases and 1 death in Uganda.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the outbreak 'had a big head start' and health teams are still behind the virus, despite progress being made.
Testing has improved, with lab teams completing 1,445 tests and clearing almost all the backlog of old suspected cases, but there are still 116 suspected cases waiting for testing.
Only about 45% of contacts are being traced, but WHO emphasized that this number must go above 90% to control the outbreak properly.
A wider fundraising and response plan will be launched on Friday with partners including the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the governments of the DRC and Uganda, requiring at least $115 million over the next three months.
