BUNIA, Congo: More than 2,000 people have now died in Congo's Ebola outbreak, which is spreading faster than any previous outbreak of the disease, according to the latest government figures.

Health authorities reported 4,381 confirmed Ebola cases, including 2,011 deaths. The number of deaths has been reached almost three times faster than during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which was the deadliest Ebola outbreak recorded before the current crisis.

The latest outbreak was officially declared on May 15, although testing later showed that the virus had been spreading since February. It took about nine weeks for the outbreak to reach 1,000 deaths, but the number doubled in only about three more weeks. The rapid increase has raised concerns that the disease is spreading faster than health workers can detect and contain.

Dr Jean-Marie Akandabo, who is helping treat Ebola patients at a clinic in Ituri province, described the situation as "alarming" and said more resources were needed in the affected areas.

The current outbreak is already the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history. It remains behind the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, which recorded more than 28,000 cases and over 11,000 deaths.

The outbreak in Congo is also different from many earlier Ebola crises because the Bundibugyo virus is causing it, a less common strain for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments. Clinical trials for potential vaccines and treatments have started in Ituri, the center of the outbreak in eastern Congo.

Aid workers say efforts to contain the disease are struggling to keep pace with its spread across five eastern provinces. Reaching remote communities has been particularly difficult due to armed conflict, poor roads, and communication challenges.

Another major problem has been a lack of payment for health workers. Many medical staff have stopped working to protest unpaid wages since the outbreak was declared. Authorities have blamed delays in paying workers on difficulties in distributing funds that are already available.

The World Health Organization has also warned that most new Ebola cases are being found among people who were not already being monitored as contacts of infected patients. This suggests that the virus is still spreading beyond the control of health teams.

Several different viruses can cause Ebola. Although the strain responsible for the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak is considered more deadly, the current Bundibugyo outbreak has produced a higher death rate. Officials say patients are often reaching medical facilities too late, while some infected people show few or no symptoms.

The current outbreak has a case fatality rate of 45.9%, compared with 39.6% during the West Africa outbreak.

Paul Hunter, a medicine professor at the University of East Anglia in Britain, said that without an effective vaccine, the main way to control the outbreak was to quickly identify infected people and provide them with care in secure medical centers.

He also warned that the situation was especially difficult because the outbreak was occurring in a remote area affected by conflict and poor communications. Under such conditions, finding infected people early enough to stop them from spreading the virus can be extremely difficult.

Authorities have introduced restrictions on public gatherings and closed Ituri's main airport in an attempt to slow the spread. However, large numbers of people continue to move through the region due to trade, mining, and displacement caused by fighting. The affected area is close to the borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

Dr Akandabo said the lack of medical care and limited cooperation from some communities remained among the biggest challenges. He warned, "We must not take this disease lightly, because it continues to kill and no one is safe."

The WHO said that when the outbreak first began in one of Congo's most isolated and vulnerable areas, some patients were incorrectly thought to have malaria or typhoid. Early testing also focused on a more common type of Ebola, which delayed the identification of the Bundibugyo virus.

The WHO's regional director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, said the response was struggling to keep up with the disease. He told reporters that officials were "chasing the virus; the virus is ahead of us."

The first Ebola virus was identified in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The current crisis is the country's 17th Ebola outbreak and has become its largest ever.