WHO: Ebola death toll passes 5,000

The death toll from Ebola jumped past 5,000 on Wednesday, a sign that the disease is still killing rapidly even as international organizations tout some progress in slowing its spread.

At least 5,160 people have died from the disease and 14,098 have been infected, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday. The latest figures show an increase of 830 cases and 60 deaths in five days.

{mosads}“Transmission remains intense in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and case incidence is still increasing in Sierra Leone,” the agency, which is part of the United Nations (U.N.), warns.

Funding remains a key hurdle. WHO still needs 36 percent of its $260 million target to fight the outbreak.

The agency is also behind on its goals to make more beds available in the three worst-affected countries. Only 24 percent of the 4,611 beds are available.

Officials reported some progress in contact-tracing, with 95 percent of known contacts reached daily.

The disease is also spreading in Mali, where four people have now died from Ebola. The new cases are not related to the toddler who died in Mali last week, raising concerns of an outbreak in that country.

WHO officials said late last month that the outbreak had been slowing in Liberia, a country that has long been the epicenter of the disease. Dr. Bruce Aylward, one of the organization’s top officials on the ground, said he had “cautious optimism” that the rate of infection was decreasing there.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the international Ebola response later on Wednesday.