Ebola outbreak in DR Congo outpaces response capacity: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called on the international community to provide more finances and other resources to support Ebola response, as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expanding beyond the capacity of response.

The outbreak is unfortunately still expanding beyond the capacity of response, and it is now the largest outbreak of Ebola the country has ever faced, WHO Spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

He called for more support in terms of finances and other resources to scale up all areas of response, including treatment capacity, field investigation teams, and community workers.

As of Saturday, the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the DR Congo had risen to 3,748, with 1,657 confirmed deaths, according to the spokesman.

The Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared on May 15 in Ituri Province in the DR Congo. No strain-specific vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo is currently available. The relevant research institutions and organizations have already begun trials of various candidate drugs and vaccines.

Ebola outbreak in DR Congo outpaces response capacity: WHO

China successfully sent two new hyperspectral satellites into space on Wednesday.

The satellites, Oriental Smart Eye 01 and Oriental Smart Eye 02, were launched at 10:38 Beijing Time (0238 GMT) atop a Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3) carrier rocket from waters off the coast of Haiyang, a city in east China's Shandong Province. The satellites have entered the planned orbit.

The newly launched satellites are part of China's "Oriental Smart Eye Constellation" project, which aims to deploy more than 200 high-resolution intelligent satellites by 2030, comprising over 100 optical satellites, over 100 radar satellites, and four hyperspectral satellites.

The offshore launch mission was conducted by the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

It marked the 12th mission of the SD-3 rocket.

The SD-3 is part of China's Dragon rocket family, which has been developed specifically to meet the growing market demand for the launch of small, commercial low-orbit satellites and satellite networks. It is capable of sending a payload of 1.5 tonnes into sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

China sends 2 new hyperspectral satellites into orbit from sea