The Democratic Republic of Congo has received an initial shipment of more than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine as the country battles what authorities describe as the deadliest Ebola outbreak in its history — one that is now spreading roughly 18 times faster than the deadliest outbreak previously on record.

The 16,250 doses arrived by plane at Kinshasa's international airport late Friday, according to an AFP journalist on the scene. The World Health Organization has announced that a total of 70,000 doses will be made available to the DRC: 50,000 for frontline and healthcare workers, and 20,000 reserved for a clinical trial. The outbreak, declared on 15 May though believed to have begun weeks earlier, has now recorded 5,290 confirmed cases and 2,516 deaths. Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola coordinator, warned on Friday that the epidemic