Government data released overnight showed confirmed infections had reached 2,011 since the outbreak began, while authorities described it as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak recorded in the country. The latest industrial action involved staff at Bunia General Hospital, where health workers blocked the facility’s entrance to protest the lack of compensation despite working under hazardous conditions.

Medical personnel and other frontline workers said they had not received payment for their efforts since joining the response, according to accounts reported from Bunia, the epicenter of the outbreak in Ituri province.

Health Ministry figures showed that 753 patients remain in isolation or are receiving treatment in hospitals, while 366 people have recovered from the disease. Officials also reported that contact tracing has reached only 67 percent of identified contacts, highlighting continuing difficulties in containing transmission.

Congo has been battling the outbreak since May 15, when authorities confirmed infections caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, a less common variant for which no approved vaccine or treatment currently exists.

Two months into the emergency, the outbreak continues to outpace containment efforts. The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that at least 80 percent of newly confirmed infections are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, complicating efforts to isolate cases and interrupt the spread of the virus.

Health officials have also been unable to identify the outbreak’s index patient, limiting investigators’ ability to reconstruct the earliest transmission chain. Ongoing armed conflict and population movements linked to mining activities have further complicated efforts to locate and monitor thousands of people who may have been exposed.

Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the World Health Organization’s executive director for health emergencies, said after returning from Bunia that many newly reported fatalities involved people who died in their communities without reaching healthcare facilities or receiving medical treatment.

The strike at Bunia General Hospital is the latest in a series of work stoppages involving healthcare workers across Ituri province. Some frontline staff told The Associated Press they had not received any salary or compensation since they joined the Ebola response at the beginning of the outbreak.

The labor action comes as health authorities attempt to expand surveillance, treatment and community outreach in affected areas while facing growing operational challenges.

Unlike outbreaks caused by the Zaire strain of Ebola, which has approved vaccines and treatments and accounted for most of Congo’s previous 16 Ebola epidemics, the Bundibugyo virus has no licensed medical countermeasures.

Health officials have nevertheless begun enrolling patients in a clinical study evaluating two experimental Ebola treatments, offering hope that additional therapeutic options may become available as researchers seek to improve outcomes during the outbreak.

The combination of rising infections, unpaid frontline workers, limited contact tracing, unidentified transmission chains and the absence of approved vaccines has intensified pressure on Congo’s public health system as authorities and international partners work to contain the country’s most rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak.