Reports from across the affected areas add to the impression that the virus has been spreading unnoticed. A rapid needs assessment by ActionAid in the Bunia, Nizi and Nyankunde areas found nearly a third of schools had registered at least one suspected Ebola case or close contact.

On Saturday, the Red Cross said three of its volunteers who died this month were believed to have contracted the virus as long ago as 27 March while carrying out dead body management as part of an unrelated humanitarian mission.

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Dr Richard Kojan, an intensive care clinician with Alima who has provided services in several Ebola outbreaks, said there were many similarities between them, such as late discovery, insufficient resources to respond, and the lack of a vaccine at the outset.

“The outbreak is out of control,” he said from Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital, this week.