The current outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been labelled 'terrifying' by health experts, who warned that the virus is now out of control.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, the head of the Wellcome Trust, which has been active in aid operations in the country, said he believes the outbreak is the 'worst in history' and warned that it is getting worse.
Figures from the World Health Organisation show more than 1,600 people have been infected with Ebola since the outbreak began - resulting in over 1,000 deaths.
'I'm very concerned – as concerned as one can be,' said Dr Farrar.
'Whether it gets to the absolute scale of west Africa or not, none of us know, but this is massive in comparison with any other outbreak in the history of Ebola and it is still expanding.'
According to the Guardian, Dr Farrar has called for a ceasefire among warring rival factions to allow health teams to reach the sick in the DRC and protect others in the community.
And he says measures need to be taken quickly by the UN to stop the virus spreading.
'It's remarkable it hasn't spread more geographically but the numbers are frightening and the fact that they are going up is terrifying,' he added.
It comes after an expert last week told MailOnline the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo could end up as disastrous as the West Africa epidemic of 2014.
Dr Osman Dar, a global health expert at Chatham House and member of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh and Public Health England, warned the situation must change.
Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever, killed at least 11,000 across the world after it decimated West Africa and spread rapidly between 2014-2016.
Since the latest Ebola outbreak began ten months ago, the vast majority of those killed have been women and children.
The number of deaths is said to be rising steadily and the fatality rate is higher in this case than in previous disasters - with more than 67 per cent of those infected perishing.
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