DRC Ebola Deaths Pass 2,500 as UN Warns Response Funding Will 'Run Out' Within Weeks

UN Senior Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis warned on 21 August 2026 that the DRC outbreak is spreading 'exponentially,' 'faster and wider' than previously observed, as the confirmed death toll passed 2,500 (5,290 cases, 2,516 deaths as of the 20 August situation report, up from 5,208/2,476 two days earlier). Harneis said half of all deaths in the outbreak have occurred in just the last 20 days, and cautioned that response funding is critically short: 'We're only covered for the next weeks, and very soon funding will run out.' A roughly 30% cut in humanitarian organizational capacity from recent aid reductions is compounding the strain, alongside more than 260 attacks on health workers recorded over six months (eight killed) and inadequate banking infrastructure to pay response staff in remote health zones. The US announced an additional $80 million to expand treatment-bed capacity and safe burial operations. 160 healthcare workers have now been infected and 43 have died. The outbreak now spans six eastern DRC provinces, an area larger than France.