News Center — Fears have escalated over a wider spread of the Ebola virus in the Congo, with health warnings of expanding infection and difficulties in containment, amid deteriorating medical services and rising infection rates threatening to worsen the health crisis in several provinces.

Congolese health authorities announced today, Saturday, July 18, that the number of confirmed Ebola cases had risen to 2,181, including 864 deaths, according to government data, which also indicated 56 new cases and 36 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours.

The International Organization for Migration warned that transporting the bodies of virus victims between regions for traditional burial ceremonies exacerbates the risk of transmission, given the virus's ability to remain active even after the infected person's death.

Médecins Sans Frontières also called for the urgent expansion of containment and care measures, affirming that the rate of spread exceeds efforts to control it, amid an outbreak that ranks among the three largest and fastest-spreading Ebola outbreaks ever recorded.

Previous official data showed that confirmed cases tripled in less than five weeks, reaching 1,926 cases and 702 deaths by last Sunday, amid fears of the outbreak expanding into new provinces, especially with the spread of the Bundibugyo strain in Ituri.

In a related context, Oxford University has begun the first human trial of a vaccine against the rare strain, aiming to accelerate international efforts to contain the outbreak in the Congo and Uganda. Ebola remains highly contagious and is transmitted through bodily fluids, causing symptoms including fever, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding, while safe burial procedures remain a critical factor in limiting its spread.