Congo Ebola Deaths Top 3,000 in Fastest Outbreak

More than 3,000 people have now died in Congo's Ebola outbreak, the country's Ministry of Health reported Wednesday, in what is already the fastest-spreading Ebola epidemic on record.

The ministry's figures put the toll at 3,007 deaths from 6,186 confirmed infections since the outbreak was declared an international health emergency in mid-May.

Transmission is outpacing the effort to trace and contain it. The virus has now reached six provinces.

Why It Is Spreading So Fast

Several factors are driving transmission at once: continuing conflict in eastern Congo, where cases are concentrated; targeted violence against medical workers; high mobility among local miners; and weak health infrastructure.

Frontline health workers are operating in difficult conditions and have repeatedly gone on strike over unpaid wages.

Officials are also worried about spread inside classrooms after schools reopened during the outbreak.

Compounding the problem, there are no approved treatments or vaccines for the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus driving this outbreak, though two candidate vaccines are in development.