How worrying is the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo?

The outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is concerning. It has been spreading for weeks undetected in a part of the world where civil war makes getting on top of the virus difficult, and the species of Ebola involved is rare, so there are fewer tools to stop a virus that kills around a third of people infected. This is a critical moment in an outbreak where there is uncertainty about how far it has spread, but there are already almost 250 suspected cases and 80 deaths. Most Ebola outbreaks tend to be small, but specialists are haunted by the 2014-16 outbreak. Then, 28,600 people in West Africa were infected in the largest ever outbreak of the disease. The declaration of a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) does not mean we are in the early stages of a Covid-style pandemic. The risk Ebola poses to the whole world remains tiny. Even in the 2014-16 outbreak, there were only three cases in the UK and all were healthcare workers who had volunteered to help. "But it does reflect that the situation is complex enough to require international coordination," says Dr Amanda Rojek, from the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the