GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP)—More than 500 people have now died in the Ebola outbreak gripping the Democratic Republic of Congo, World Health Organization figures showed Monday.

A newly updated count issued by the UN health agency showed that there have been 1,561 confirmed cases in the DR Congo since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, including 506 confirmed deaths.

Two others have also died in neighbouring Uganda, where the situation is more stable. The country has seen 16 patients recover out of 20 total confirmed cases.

The WHO’s figures for the DRC, which come from the health authorities in the vast country, show that the outbreak there has a case fatality rate of 32 percent.

A total of 254 patients have recovered, while 354 suspected cases of the viral haemorrhagic fever are currently under investigation.

The outbreak in northeastern DRC has hit four provinces but is heavily centred in Ituri province.

The outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.

The trial of two potential treatments for Bundibugyo began in the DRC on Thursday.

The trial is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir, alone and in combination.

– ‘Painful’ reminder –

The milestone of 500 confirmed deaths comes as WHO member states reconvene to negotiate the missing section of the landmark pandemic agreement struck last year, aimed at avoiding a repeat of the international disarray in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The next pandemic will not wait for us to be ready,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned countries on Monday.

“The Ebola outbreak still unfolding in the DRC right now is proof of that. It is not some distant, hypothetical scenario in a briefing document. It is happening.

“Ebola may not be the next pandemic. But it is a reminder, a painful one, that the threat never truly goes away.”

The virus spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids.

A doctor who had tested positive for Ebola in the first such case on French territory has recovered and left hospital, France’s health minister said Saturday.

The doctor tested positive after flying from the DRC to France on June 23.

The DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 after several unexplained deaths in mineral-rich but volatile Ituri, which is plagued by armed groups.

The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in displacement camps were a particular concern, with confirmed Ebola cases “in at least four sites in Ituri”.

“Response activities are ongoing, but humanitarian partners warn that funding shortfalls are limiting their work across displacement sites in Ituri, where more than 273,000 displaced people face acute needs,” it said.

This year’s humanitarian appeal for the DRC is just under 54 percent funded, with $752 million received of the $1.4 billion required, it added.

Meanwhile it said that escalating violence in South Kivu — one of the four northeastern provinces where Ebola has been detected — was driving new displacement and severely restricting humanitarian access.