U.S. health authorities have raised the national Ebola response to Level One after the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported 1,203 confirmed cases of the virus, including 304 deaths.

The United States has also deployed shipments of experimental treatments to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, where the outbreak remains beyond control in several affected areas.

Health officials said enhanced epidemiological and biological surveillance has improved the early detection of infections while confirming that transmission continues to increase on a weekly basis.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the estimated funding required to combat the Ebola outbreak has risen to $1.4 billion, three times higher than previous estimates, following consultations with the Congolese government and United Nations agencies.