The outbreak, officially detected on May 15, has killed 3,175 people among more than 6,600 confirmed cases, according to official Congolese figures cited by the WHO.
The UN health agency said health services in the affected areas were struggling with limited staff and resources as the highly contagious virus continued to spread.
Ebola is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and can cause severe bleeding, organ failure and death.
The WHO is working to establish 3,000 beds in Ebola treatment centres across the DRC. Luca Fontana, a senior technical official with the agency, said three medical workers were required for each patient, meaning about 9,000 health workers would be needed.
“More than 900 beds have been built within the first two months of the response, and we have now reached close to 1,400 beds across 59 treatment centres,” Fontana told a press briefing in Geneva.
He said another 1,600 beds would be required to meet the growing demand, while nearly 4,000 healthcare workers were currently serving in treatment centres.
“So it means we need 5,000 more,” Fontana said.
He added that the Congolese Health Ministry was working to identify qualified medical personnel in other regions and deploy them to the affected provinces.
“The problem is to identify those fast enough to make sure that we can cover the growing need,” he said, stressing that fully staffed treatment centres would improve the chances of saving lives and containing the outbreak.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment. Several vaccines and treatments are undergoing testing.
The outbreak has affected parts of northern and eastern DRC where state presence is weak, health infrastructure is limited and armed groups have operated for decades.
Fontana said most patients initially admitted to treatment centres came from Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, but patients were now arriving from villages “far beyond” the outbreak’s epicentre.
He described the development as a clear indication that the virus was spreading and said the WHO response would need to adapt.
Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past five decades. The DRC’s previous worst outbreak, between 2018 and 2020, infected about 3,500 people and killed nearly 2,300.
