More than 2,500 people have died from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a UN coordinator who says it's spreading to an area larger than France.
Julien Harneis said on Friday that the outbreak - already the deadliest in the DRC's history - is spreading exponentially across the country.
He said on a video call from Bunia: "The epidemic is spreading to an area that is bigger than France, and the outbreak is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response.
"And all of this is happening in an area that has had three decades of conflict and is generating huge humanitarian needs."
Mr Harneis added some 160 healthcare workers in the DRC have fallen ill with Ebola, and 43 of them have died.
The UN Ebola coordinator then warned that those workers have been "attacked by youths, ambulances have been burned and stoned, and the healthcare facilities have been attacked".
"Fear translates into angry young men who start throwing stones at their object of fear, the ambulance," he added.
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The UN's humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher announced last week that an additional $30.5m (£22.5m) had been allocated from its Central Emergency Response Fund to tackle the outbreak.
Mr Harneis said on Friday, however, that existing funds will run dry within weeks, noting aid cuts in recent years have reduced the capacity of humanitarian organisations.
He added that the DRC's decision to stop commercial flights has led to issues delivering cash to pay the tens of thousands tackling the outbreak
The DRC's outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which has no approved vaccines or treatments.
A small number of experimental therapies are currently being evaluated.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, living or dead. It can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
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With more than 2,500 deaths, this outbreak is now only dwarfed by an Ebola epidemic across West Africa between 2014 and 2016, where 11,310 fatalities were recorded across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It took almost five months for 1,000 deaths to be recorded during that outbreak, whereas Congo reached 2,000 deaths less than three months after the current crisis was declared.
(c) Sky News 2026: More than 2,500 dead in DR Congo, UN says, as Ebola spreading to area 'bigger than France'
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