Ebola risk in Congo now ‘very high’, WHO warns – POLITICO

The World Health Organization raised its risk level for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo to “very high” on Friday, following attacks on treatment centers in conflict-hit regions where the disease is spreading rapidly.

The new risk assessment, which remains high in the wider region but low worldwide, marks a further deterioration of an outbreak that the WHO declared a global health emergency last Sunday.

There have so far been 82 confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo, with seven confirmed deaths, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. But the extent of the current outbreak is likely much larger: the WHO has recorded almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths in Africa's second-largest country.