How worrying is the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo?

An outbreak in DR Congo has been declared a health emergency, with almost 250 suspected cases reported.

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It has been spreading for weeks undetected in a part of the world where civil war makes getting on top of the virus difficult, and the species of Ebola involved is rare, so there are fewer tools to stop a virus that kills between a third and half of people infected.

This is a critical moment in an outbreak where there is uncertainty about how far it has spread, but there are already almost 250 suspected cases and 80 deaths.

Most Ebola outbreaks tend to be small, but specialists are haunted by the 2014-16 outbreak. Then, 28,600 people in West Africa were infected in the largest ever outbreak of the disease.

The declaration of a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) does not mean we are in the early stages of a Covid-style pandemic.