The World Health Organization warned Monday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo had killed more than 1,300 people, with transmission accelerating faster than response teams could contain it. WHO officials in Geneva said additional resources were urgently needed.

The outbreak has strained health systems in affected provinces, where responders have faced insecurity, limited laboratory capacity and gaps in contact tracing. WHO's regional office for Africa said case counts continued to rise despite ongoing ring vaccination campaigns using Merck's Ervebo vaccine.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, has previously appealed for international donors to close funding shortfalls for the response. The agency said mobile treatment units and additional epidemiologists were being deployed to slow transmission and protect frontline health workers.

Aid organisations including Médecins Sans Frontières warned that under-resourced outbreaks risk spilling across borders into neighbouring countries. Cross-border surveillance in the Great Lakes region remained a priority to prevent wider regional spread, according to public health officials.

The Congolese health ministry said vaccination and community engagement efforts were being intensified, while acknowledging that mistrust and access barriers continued to hamper containment in remote areas.