THE fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is rapidly spreading beyond its epicentre, Africa’s top health body has said.

In recent weeks, new cases and deaths have declined in Ituri province, the outbreak’s epicentre, but risen sharply in neighbouring North Kivu and Haut-Uele, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said at a weekly briefing on Thursday.

According to government figures published that day, 6,843 cases have been reported, including 3,310 deaths. 

Ituri province remains the hardest-hit province, with more than 5,400 cases, while North Kivu has reported over 1,000 cases since the outbreak was declared in May.

Efforts to contain the outbreak in the eastern DRC are being hampered by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. 

The situation is particularly concerning at displacement sites, where residents already live in extremely precarious conditions.

The World Health Organisation has said the outbreak remains out of control and is on track to surpass West Africa’s 2014-16 Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, making it the deadliest on record.

In North Kivu, new cases more than doubled to 381 in the latest three-week period, from 165 in the earlier period, Africa CDC head of emergency preparedness and response Yap Boum said on Thursday.

The virus recently reached two more health zones in North Kivu, where fighting between government forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who control the provincial capital Goma, has complicated the response.

Last month, the government began vaccinating health and other front-line workers with the Ervebo vaccine, which was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type of virus called Zaire.

Clinical trials are under way to find a licensed vaccine for the current Bundibugyo virus.

The vaccination trials started in the eastern Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele provinces, Placide Mbala Kingebeni, Africa CDC’s director for research, clinical trials and innovation, said on Thursday.