WHO scales up support to DR Congo amid Ebola outbreak

The World Health Organization (WHO) has deployed hundreds of new beds and more medical staff across the five Ebola-hit provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help the country combat a fast-growing outbreak of the disease.

As of Wednesday, the DR Congo had recorded 6,342 confirmed cases and 3,072 deaths, according to an official situation report.

A total of 1,475 patients have recovered, while 770 others remain in hospitalized in isolation.

"We've been able to augment the number of functional bed capacities by more than 500 for the past four weeks. And this is something which has been really demanded by the current scale of the outbreak. And these almost 500 new beds have been kind of added in more than 50 health facilities across the entire five provinces, which has been affected by this outbreak," said Dr Thierno Balde, Incident Manager of the WHO.

Balde said there are now over 1,300 beds across 49 treatment facilities in DR Congo, adding that the WHO is planning to expand the number to 3000 beds in the next two months.

"We are also trying to see how we can fill the additional gaps because our objective is to move in the next two months with 3,000 additional bed capacities. But what is also very important, WHO is really working with the different partners for increasing the number of the health professionals, the number of clinicians, doctors, and nurses who are going to work into these different health facilities," he said.

On Friday, the DR Congo and its partners launched an updated 180-day multisectoral response plan to intensify efforts against the outbreak, with funding needs estimated at 1.3 billion U.S. dollars.

With support from the WHO, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners, the plan was intended to serve as the operational roadmap for the response over the next six months.

The current outbreak, officially declared in May, has become the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC to date.

WHO scales up support to DR Congo amid Ebola outbreak

WHO scales up support to DR Congo amid Ebola outbreak

Snow leopard, a vulnerable species rarely seen in the wild, has been captured for the first time in Zoige Wetland National Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The reserve's administration retrieved infrared camera equipment in early September and found clear footage of the elusive big cat recorded in June.

The systematic infrared camera monitoring program was launched in March this year, with devices deployed across the reserve to track wildlife activity.

In addition to the snow leopard, the cameras also documented a range of other wild species, including blue sheep, Tibetan gazelles, wolves, Himalayan vultures, Himalayan marmots, and woolly hare, a sign of improved biodiversity and healthier ecosystem in the region thanks to conservation efforts over years.

Elusive snow leopard captured on camera for first time in Sichuan wetland reserve