The World Health Organization warned Thursday that the Ebola virus is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a faster rate than any previous outbreak of the deadly disease.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that more than 2,000 cases, including 796 deaths, have been confirmed in the country since the outbreak was declared two months ago, making it the third largest Ebola outbreak on record.

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Unidentified infection

He noted that the major outbreak that hit the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020 took more than ten months to reach 2,000 confirmed cases, warning that the virus is currently spreading at an unprecedented speed. Despite intensified response efforts, Tedros warned that "more than 80% of new cases are detected in people not listed among known contacts, indicating that some transmission chains remain unidentified."