More than 740 people, 30 percent of them children, have been infected so far, and 460 have died, with a total of 258 surviving the disease.
UNICEF, said that it was scaling up its response to help victims, as part of the government and WHO-led effort to end the outbreak – the largest in the country’s history.
“The response to this latest outbreak continues to be hampered by insecurity, frequent movement of people in the affected areas, and resistance from some communities,” said UNICEF.
“While we have been able to largely control the disease in Mangina, Beni and Komanda, the virus continues to spread in the Butembo area, largely because of insecurity and population movement,” added Dr. Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in the DRC.
“We are scaling up our response and deploying additional staff in the health zones of Butembo and Katwa, where 65 percent of the new Ebola cases in the last three weeks have occurred.”
The UN and its humanitarian partners have dispatched emergency help in the form of medicine, food, water tablets and malaria kits, and further assistance is on the way.