DRC Ebola outbreak tops 8,000 cases as violence strikes health awareness efforts

Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have surpassed 8,000, with nearly 4,000 deaths recorded in the country's largest outbreak.

• DRC's public health institute reported 8,067 cases and 3,901 deaths, a 48.4 percent fatality rate.
• Marie-Celestin Karondwa, acting president of the ruling UDPS party's committee in Butembo, was beaten to death Sunday after a radio appearance on Ebola prevention.
• WHO said the outbreak is "far from over" and on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak.
• The United States announced it is releasing a further $267 million toward a $2 billion target to fight Ebola in the DRC.
• The outbreak has now spread to a seventh province, the DRC government data showed.
• WHO reported encouraging signs of declining transmission in the hardest-hit Ituri province.
• The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no known treatments or vaccines.
• The disease has spread to 63 health zones across 7 of the DRC's 26 provinces since it was declared May 15.
• OCHA reported that Ebola response resource mobilization reduced routine primary health care services by 13 percent in Ituri province between April and June.