Suspected Ebola cases triple in a week as WHO warns of rapid spread in DRC

Medical staff carry an Ebola patient to a treatment centre in Rwampara, Congo, 21 May. There have been 177 suspected deaths from the disease so far. Photograph: Moses Sawasawa/AP

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo poses a “very high” risk to the country, the World Health Organization said on Friday, revising its threat assessment upwards.

The outbreak is spreading rapidly, WHO leaders said, with almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, up from 246 cases and 65 deaths when it was first reported a week earlier.