Ugandan health workers inside the Ebola red zone at the Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital isolation centre on October 20, 2022. (Daily Monitor).

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a clinical trial of two potential treatments for the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo as efforts continue to contain the latest outbreak.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Thursday that the first patient has been enrolled in the trial.

“The clinical trial of two therapeutics began, with the enrolment of the first patient,” Dr. Tedros said during a press briefing in Geneva.

According to the WHO, the Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded more than 1,400 confirmed Ebola cases and 438 deaths since the outbreak began in May. Uganda has also confirmed cases linked to the same outbreak.

The WHO said the study is being carried out in partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Tedros said that although some patients recover without approved medicines, effective treatments could save many more lives.

“Even without approved therapeutics, people are recovering from this disease, but of course, we could save many more lives with safe and effective therapeutics in our toolkit,” he said.

There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. The WHO has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency as health authorities continue surveillance and response efforts.