Associated Press: Experts call for emergency declaration on Congo’s Ebola
“An international group of public health experts on Monday called on the World Health Organization to convene an emergency committee to consider declaring Congo’s Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency. The group of experts wrote in The Lancet that such a call would help galvanize ‘high-level political, financial, and technical support to address the Ebola outbreak that started last May’…” (Petesch, 2/4).

CIDRAP News: DRC Ebola cases surge to 785
“Over the weekend and through [Monday], the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) health ministry reported 22 more cases, many from the current hot spot Katwa, but seven other areas also reported new cases. … The increase lifts the outbreak’s overall total to 785 cases, 731 of them confirmed and 54 listed as probable. Health officials are still investigating 165 suspected Ebola infections…” (Schnirring, 2/4).

The Hill: Ebola poses vexing challenge six months after latest outbreak
“An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in two eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing in a large urban center where residents are distrustful of outside health officials, posing a massive challenge to national and international responders racing to contain the disease…” (Wilson, 2/4).

Xinhua News: Ebola in DRC threatens neighboring South Sudan: U.N.
“The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has prompted the United Nations and its humanitarian partners to step up preparations on Monday for the virus spreading into neighboring South Sudan. The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the U.N.’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated 2 million U.S. dollars to support critical Ebola preparedness activities to protect an estimated 440,000 people in high-risk areas of South Sudan, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. chief…” (2/5).

Additional coverage of the DRC Ebola outbreak and response is available from Becker’s Hospital Review, Fortune, The Guardian, and TIME.