The decision came amid fears that a rare strain of the Bundibugio virus could spread more widely than official figures show.
According to WHO, the outbreak has already gone beyond the original focus and has been recorded in the capitals of two countries – Kampala and Kinshasa, where about 20 million people live, Bloomberg reported.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation is of grave concern because of the uncertain scale of the spread and the lack of approved vaccines or specific treatment for the strain.
Congo’s Ituri province has eight laboratory-confirmed cases of infection, 336 suspected infections and 87 suspected deaths, according to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WHO separately emphasized that border closures and movement restrictions are not recommended as they could worsen the situation by forcing people to move through illegal crossings. Instead, the organization called for accelerated clinical trials of potential treatments and vaccines.
Among the options being considered are monoclonal antibodies and Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir, but neither product has yet been approved specifically against the strain.
Also, according to WHO and scientific publications, experimental vaccines, including those developed by Moderna and Oxford University, are undergoing regulatory evaluation and testing.
The situation remains fragile, and international organizations continue to assess the actual scale of the outbreak and the speed of its spread.
