KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo (AFP) —Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the latest outbreak, which is nearing the country’s deadliest ever.

The current outbreak, which has hit the DRC’s conflict-plagued eastern and northeastern regions, was declared on May 15 but is thought to have already been spreading for several weeks.

It is the DRC’s 17th surge of the highly contagious disease and is already considered the largest in the country’s history “and could well become the largest outbreak ever”, Sania Nishtar, chief executive of the Gavi global vaccine alliance, has said.