UN Humanitarian Chief Warns 'Ebola Is Winning' as Outbreak Kills One Person Every 30 Minutes

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher announced on 14 August 2026 that the DRC Ebola outbreak — by then 2,128–2,184 confirmed deaths among over 4,500-4,660 confirmed cases (47% CFR) — was killing one person every 30 minutes, calling it 'the fastest growing on record' and warning it is 'on course to become the deadliest Ebola eruption ever.' Fletcher said: 'Ebola is winning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We cannot let the virus outrun our response,' and 'This is a wake-up call. We need speed, scale and solidarity before this virus gets even further ahead of us. The world needs to wake up and show up.' He released an additional $30.5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), building on $24 million previously allocated to DRC and neighboring countries, and deployed 20 additional OCHA staff to the outbreak epicenter. OCHA said the response needs to double its safe-and-dignified-burial teams, triple treatment capacity, improve contact tracing, and deploy more experienced outbreak managers; the World Food Programme is expanding its hot-meal program to more treatment centers, and food-insecurity assistance remains only 25% funded.