Ebola crisis could become worst on record

A leading US public health expert who served in former President Joe Biden’s administration is warning that the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda could surpass the 2014 crisis to become the worst on record.

“This is on track to potentially be as bad as the [2014] West African Ebola outbreak if not worse,” Stephanie Psaki, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and former US coordinator for global health security at the National Security Council, told Semafor. “We are on our back foot already, much more than the world was in the beginning of that outbreak.”

The International Rescue Committee has similarly warned the outbreak “could become the deadliest on record without urgent international action.” There are currently over 900 suspected cases and at least 223 deaths. The 2014 West African outbreak lasted more than two years, resulting in more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths.

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