The UK government has announced £51.8 million in additional funding to combat the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), almost tripling its total commitment to £78.7 million. The move comes as the outbreak, the fastest-spreading Ebola epidemic ever recorded and the DRC's deadliest on record, continues to outpace the international response, with the World Health Organisation warning it could surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak as the deadliest in history.

The virus has killed 2,950 people and infected 6,100 since being declared in mid-May, spreading "exponentially" according to UN health workers, with the response hampered by earlier aid cuts from both the US and UK. Foreign Office minister Kirsty McNeill told MPs the UK has deployed 13 experts through its Public Health Rapid Support Team and continues funding sexual and reproductive health programmes, protective equipment and containment measures, amid reports that maternal deaths in affected regions have almost doubled. NGOs including the ONE Campaign welcomed the funding boost as evidence the government had "been listening" to public pressure.