The UN warned that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could cost the continent as much as $3.6 billion and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
A worst-case scenario involved the outbreak spreading beyond DR Congo and Uganda to other countries, including Rwanda and Angola, and coinciding with higher fuel costs tied to the Iran crisis.
Officials in DR Congo, meanwhile, fear the disease may have spread to two new provinces, Reuters reported. The Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine or treatment, has infected around 1,300 people and killed more than 300 in the country since an outbreak was declared on May 15.
Authorities have said they are playing catch-up with the virus. Dwindling medical supplies and widespread skepticism about the disease have made health workers’ jobs more challenging, and a vaccine is likely weeks away.
