The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Health Ministry announced Saturday that the Ebola outbreak has killed 204 people out of 867 suspected cases recorded so far.

The latest figures mark a sharp increase from the previous World Health Organization update released Friday, which reported 177 deaths among 750 suspected infections.

Authorities officially declared the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola on May 15. The strain carries a fatality rate of up to 50 percent and currently has no approved vaccine or treatment.

In response, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, amid growing fears of wider regional transmission.

African health authorities warned that the virus could spread to ten other countries across the continent as monitoring and containment efforts intensify.

This marks the seventeenth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country with a population exceeding 100 million people.

According to the WHO, Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past fifty years, with fatality rates ranging from 25 to 90 percent depending on the strain and healthcare conditions.

The deadliest previous outbreak in DR Congo occurred between 2018 and 2020, killing around 2,300 people out of 3,500 confirmed infections.