The International Development Secretary also called on other G7 countries to make a similar commitment to tackling what he described as “very fragile situation”. Mr Stewart – who was one of Boris Johnson’s challengers for the leadership of the Conservative Party until he was eliminated from the contest last month – was speaking at a high-level event hosted by the UN and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, at which WHO director Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus warned the identification of a case in the city of Goma, near the border with Rwanda, had the potential to be a worrying “game-changer”.

The Ebola outbreak is centred in North Kivu province and in total there have been 2,477 cases – 2,383 confirmed and 94 probable. Of these, there have been 1,655 deaths, 1,561 confirmed, 94 probable.

Mr Stewart told the event: “The British government has approximately so far put in $45m [£37.7m – also covers funding to the outbreak in Equateur province immediately preceding this one], and I’ve just authorised up to £50m from the British government going forward. 

Describing the situation as being “on a knife edge”, Mr Stewart added: “It is smart to spend money now, so we don’t have to spend much more later. 

“What I’ve noticed going around the world trying to get people in this room to contribute is there are a lot of very intellectual, sophisticated reasons that international donors give on why they don’t want to give any more money, right.

“So, there are any number of ambassadors in this room who can give me a fantastic exposition on the complexity of operating in eastern DRC.

“People will talk about the importance of transition from a humanitarian stage to a development stage, people will talk about the militarisation of conflict, they will point to the root causes, they will talk about politics, they’ll talk about some of the anxieties around preparedness.

“None of that is an excuse not to put more money into the response, Yes, it’s complex, yes it’s very difficult, yes, the root causes are difficult to address, but we are in a very, very fragile situation.

“To put it very bluntly we have about half the number of WHO staff that we should have doing preparedness in places like Burundi and South Sudan because the money is simply not coming through.

“So I raised this at the G7 meeting in Paris with development ministers. 

“We would be hugely grateful if our dear friends from the other G7 countries really stepped up.

“The United States has done an enormous amount. This is to confirm that Britain will do a great deal more.”

Dr Gebreyesus said the WHO was concerned at two separate, but equally worrying developments.

The first was a case of Ebola in Goma in a pastor who had travelled from Butembo, while the second was the murder of two Ebola responders were killed in their home in Beni, the latest in a series of attacks on public health workers which has also seen the killing of WHO epidemiologists Dr Richard Mouzoko.

Dr Gebreyesus said: “Both of these events encapsulate the challenges we continue to face on a daily basis in DRC. Just when we start to get control of the virus in one area, it appears in another.

“And violence and insecurity continue to undermine the response. We are dealing with one of the world’s most dangerous viruses in one of the world’s most dangerous areas. 

“Every attack sets us back. Every attack makes it more difficult to trace contacts, vaccinate and perform safe burials. Every attack gives Ebola an opportunity to spread. Ebola gets a free ride in each and every attack.

“The risk of spread in DRC and the region remains very high.”

Dr Gebreyesus warned the case in Goma “could potentially be a game-changer in this epidemic”.

He added: “Goma is a city of two million people, near the border with Rwanda, and is a gateway to the region and the world.

“We are confident in the measures we are put in place and hope that we will see no further transmission of Ebola in Goma. Nevertheless, we cannot be too careful.”

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