The Ebola outbreak ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 3,000 people, according to government figures released this week, making it the deadliest epidemic of the virus in the country's history and, by the World Health Organization's own reckoning, the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

Congo's Ministry of Health reported 3,007 deaths among 6,186 confirmed cases as of September 2. The World Health Organization has warned the outbreak is now "on track" to surpass the catastrophic 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, which killed roughly 11,000 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Africa CDC believes the true toll could be three times higher than what's officially recorded, given how many cases are likely going undetected.

The outbreak, caused by the little-studied Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, was declared a global health emergency in mid-May and has since spread to six provinces in the country's east, with two additional health zones in North Kivu affected just last week — a region where the fatality rate is running significantly higher than elsewhere.

Response Struggling to Keep Pace

Health workers are being overwhelmed. According to reporting from NBC News, contact tracers are managing to link only 15 to 20 percent of new cases back to a known chain of transmission — far below what's needed to contain a fast-moving hemorrhagic fever. Armed conflict in eastern Congo, attacks on health workers, mobile populations tied to artisanal mining, and strikes by unpaid medical staff have all hampered the response, while the recent reopening of schools has raised fears of further spread.

"UNTIL EVERY CHAIN IS FOUND AND BROKEN, THE EPIDEMIC WILL CONTINUE. AND IT WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A THREAT TO DRC, ITS NEIGHBORS, AND THE REGION AS A WHOLE." — WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Complicating matters further, there is no vaccine or treatment specifically approved for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola — unlike the Zaire strain, for which the Ervebo vaccine is well established. Congo's government began distributing Ervebo anyway to frontline health workers in Kisangani in late August as an interim protective measure. "We have decided to use the Ervebo vaccine to protect first those who are on the front line," Health Minister Roger Kamba said at the campaign's launch, while researchers race to develop shots targeted specifically at the strain now driving the crisis.

With case counts still climbing and contact tracing falling short of targets, health officials say the coming weeks will be critical in determining whether the outbreak can be brought under control before it eclipses the worst Ebola epidemic on record. International partners, including the WHO and Africa CDC, are pushing for expanded funding and personnel as the crisis shows no sign of slowing.