DR Congo Ebola cases top 8,000 as WHO warns outbreak still expanding

Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have surpassed 8,000, the DRC health authorities said Monday, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the outbreak remains large, geographically expanding and marked by sustained transmission.

As of Saturday, the country had recorded 8,067 confirmed cases, including 3,901 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 48.4 percent, according to the latest government situation report released on Monday. A total of 2,070 patients have recovered.

In its latest Disease Outbreak News published Friday, the WHO said the number of new cases reported each day remained high, while transmission intensity varied considerably across affected provinces and health zones.

"The continuously high case fatality ratio, and especially the continuous high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care," the WHO said.

Ituri Province remains the epicenter of the outbreak, but transmission patterns continue to diverge. Incidence in Ituri had declined gradually from a mid-August peak, while North Kivu Province saw a substantial rise that reached its highest reported level in mid-September, according to the WHO. Sustained transmission also continues in Haut-Uele Province, while renewed transmission activity has been reported in Tshopo Province.

The outbreak has now affected 63 health zones across seven provinces. The WHO said the latest geographic expansion, including newly affected areas in Sud-Ubangi and Haut-Uele, had increased the risk of cross-border transmission.

Since it was declared in May, the outbreak has evolved into the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the DRC and the second-largest Ebola outbreak globally, after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic.

DR Congo Ebola cases top 8,000 as WHO warns outbreak still expanding

Russia said Monday that its forces struck Ukrainian logistics and communications centers, port infrastructure and vessels overnight Sunday into Monday, while Ukraine said it had hit Russian defense industry enterprises, oil facilities and other targets.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in its Monday statement that its forces hit data processing centers at two large enterprises in Kiev, which it said provided internet services and handled the storage of intelligence data for the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF).

The statement said Russian forces had also struck fuel infrastructure in Kiev used by the Ukrainian military, as well as facilities at the Vasylkiv military airfield in Kiev Oblast.

A large ship repair yard at Izmail port in Ukraine's southern Odesa region and a Ukrainian State Border Guard post at the yard were hit, along with a logistics center in the Odesa region previously used to store Ukrainian military supplies, according to the ministry.

Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Monday that Ukraine must pay the price for attacking Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Ukrainian forces had struck two defense industry facilities in Russia's Tula and Voronezh regions and oil facilities in Krasnodar Krai.

Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had also hit targets in the Kaluga and Oryol regions that Russia used to launch drone attacks on Ukraine, and had also targeted Russian troops in the Bryansk region.

He also said Russian forces had launched a wave of aerial attacks across Ukraine in the early hours of Monday, causing casualties and infrastructure damage, including to a high-rise residential building in the Kharkiv region.

Russia strikes Ukrainian communications, logistics targets; Ukraine hits Russian defense, oil sites