New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- the Ebola epidemic tearing through eastern Congo had become, by confirmed case count, the second largest in the disease's recorded history.

With 3,532 confirmed cases and 1,556 deaths logged as of July 31, the outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain has surpassed the 2018-2020 North Kivu and Ituri epidemic, which killed approximately 2,299 people across around 3,481 confirmed infections. Only the 2014-2016 West African disaster remains larger, having infected more than 28,600 people across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and killing over 11,300.

Carl Skau, the acting head of the United Nations World Food Programme, offered the starkest assessment yet. "It's the fastest spreading Ebola epidemic that we have e...