UK pledges additional £50 million to help contain Ebola outbreak in Congo

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Britain said on Tuesday it would provide more than £50 million ($67.56 million) ​in new funding to support ‌efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where confirmed ​cases have surpassed 6,000 in the ​country’s largest-ever epidemic.Britain allocated up to £20 ⁠million to the Ebola response in ​May, and the latest funding brings ​its total contribution to £78 million.The funding will support disease surveillance, frontline health workers, treatment access, ​infection control, community outreach and ​safe burials, Britain’s Foreign Office said.British public health ‌experts ⁠have been deployed in Congo to support the efforts.“As the outbreak intensifies, we are accelerating our response to ​match the ​pace and ⁠scale of the challenge,” Britain’s Minister for Africa Kirsty ​McNeill said.The epidemic — the second-largest ​and ⁠fastest-spreading on record — was caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, ⁠for ​which there are no ​approved vaccines or treatments.