News Center _ the spread of the Ebola virus is accelerating in several African countries, amid growing warnings from health bodies regarding the expanding scope of the outbreak and the difficulty of containing the infection. Reports confirm that cases are rising at an alarming rate, necessitating enhanced surveillance measures.

US health authorities raised the response level to the Ebola outbreak to the highest level today, Saturday, June 27, following the Democratic Republic of the Congo's announcement that confirmed cases had risen to 1,203, including 304 deaths.

In an attempt to contain the accelerating outbreak, US health agencies sent batches of experimental treatments to both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, where the wave of virus spread remains out of control.

Health officials confirmed that enhanced epidemiological surveillance has contributed to the early detection of new cases, reflecting the continued weekly increase in transmission rates among the population. In the same context, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the funding required to address the outbreak on the continent has risen to $1.4 billion—three times previous estimates.

The Director-General of the Centres explained that this new estimate came after consultations with experts from the Congolese government and UN agencies, in light of the expanding scope of the outbreak and the growing need for additional resources to control it.