US to provide $50 million more in funding to counter Ebola outbreak

The U.S. plans to provide $50 million in funding to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop medical countermeasures to target the rare strain of Ebola causing the current outbreak in Africa, the State Department said in a statement on Friday.

The funding will support laboratory studies and clinical trials of, as well as manufacturing for, medical countermeasure candidates for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. The new investment brings the State Department's total direct funding of the Ebola response to $270 million, it said.

CEPI said it has already committed over $60 million to support a portfolio of four vaccine candidates under development, and is evaluating other options.

"With no licensed vaccines against Bundibugyo virus, we must move at speed. This funding will help CEPI accelerate the development of life-saving countermeasures to control this outbreak and strengthen the world's defenses against future Bundibugyo virus epidemics," Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI said in a statement.

As of Friday, the Democratic Republic ​of Congo had reported 676 confirmed cases and 136 deaths in an outbreak that has ⁠also spread ​to neighboring Uganda, which has reported 19 cases. The disease went undetected for weeks and first responders say they are playing catch-up.

The U.S. State Department has said it was working closely with the U.S. Centers ​for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the DRC and Uganda to "mount a rapid and comprehensive response" ⁠to the outbreak.

The administration's efforts have focused on keeping anyone potentially exposed to the virus overseas, even though the country has facilities equipped to treat Ebola cases while containing the spread of the virus.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Chizu Nomiyama)

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