WHO declares Congo Ebola outbreak a global ‘health emergency’

More than 1,600 people have died.

The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo a "public health emergency of international concern".

“It is time for the world to take notice,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement, as he accepted the advice of his advisory board to invoke the emergency provision (PHEIC), This emergency provision has only been used by the UN health agency four times previously. The outbreak in DR Congo has killed more than 1,600 people. It's the second biggest Ebola outbreak ever, after the 2014-16 epidemic in west Africa. This week a preacher with Ebola was identified after arriving by bus in Goma, a city of more than 2 million people. The organisation has confirmed he has died.