The World Health Organization has stated that the risk posed by the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains high at the national and regional levels but low globally.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus disclosed this during a press conference held at the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday.

According to Tedros, 51 confirmed Ebola cases have so far been recorded in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu in the DRC.

“So far, 51 cases have been confirmed in the DRC, in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, although we know the scale of the epidemic in DRC is much larger,” he said.

He added that Uganda had also confirmed two Ebola cases in Kampala, including one death, while a US national working in the DRC tested positive and was transferred to Germany for treatment.

Tedros warned that several factors raised concerns over the possibility of further spread and additional fatalities.

“There are several factors that warrant serious concern about the potential for further spread and further deaths.

“Beyond the confirmed cases, there are almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths.

“We expect those numbers to keep increasing, given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected,” he stated.

The WHO chief explained that although the situation had been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Sunday, it did not yet meet the threshold for a global pandemic emergency.

The WHO emergency committee, which met on Tuesday to assess the outbreak, reached the same conclusion.

“The current situation and criteria for a public health emergency of international concern have been met, and we agree that the current situation does not satisfy the criteria for a pandemic emergency,” said Lucille Blumberg.

WHO technical officer on viral haemorrhagic fevers, Anais Legand, said investigations were still ongoing to determine how long the virus had been circulating before detection.

“Given the scale, we are thinking that it has started probably a couple of months ago, but investigations are ongoing, and our priority is really to cut the transmission chain by implementing contact tracing, isolating and caring for all suspect and confirmed cases,” she explained.

Meanwhile, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticised the WHO response, saying the organisation was “a little late” in identifying the outbreak.

Responding to the criticism, Tedros said the comments may have resulted from a misunderstanding of the WHO’s responsibilities under international health regulations.

“Maybe what the secretary said could be from a lack of understanding of how IHR works, and the responsibilities of WHO and other entities,” he said.

Tedros explained that the WHO supports countries in outbreak responses rather than replacing national authorities in managing health emergencies.