BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history has killed more than 1,500 people in eastern Congo, according to official data released Thursday, a 50% spike in around a week that shows the outbreak continues to outpace response efforts.

The latest update from Congo’s government shows that as of Tuesday, 3,442 cases have been recorded in the latest outbreak, and 1,521 people have died.

The outbreak declared on May 15 is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments.

It has also killed more people at a quicker rate than any previous outbreak, including the 2014-2016 outbreak that was considered the worst on record with over 11,000 deaths out of at least 28,000 cases. That outbreak took about eight months to reach 1,000 deaths.

Ebola is rare, but highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is severe and often fatal.

A drama with a stellar cast and ‘terrific acting’ is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

A drama viewers have said is the “one of the greatest TV events ever” is available to stream now.

I, Claudius, which was unveiled in 1976 and is an adaptation of Robert Graves’ books I, Claudius and Claudius the God, is on BBC iPlayer.

Described by the BBC as “an epic drama of madness, murder and debauchery”, the series is told from the perspective of the elderly Emperor Claudius and covers the year 24 BC to his death in AD 54, chronicling the history of the early Roman Empire.

It features a starry cast, with Derek Jacobi as Claudius and John Hurt, Brian Blessed, Siân Phillips and Patricia Quinn also part of the series.

I, Claudius has been hugely popular with viewers, with many declaring it “a masterpiece”.

“If you could only see one more piece of TV in your life – watch this,” one person posted on IMDb.com. “I first saw this BBC series in the 1970s – it was stunningly good. In the following 40+ years I have seen NOTHING to compare with this, while the average TV output has just become more sensationalised/lurid, trivial and lower quality.”

Someone else said it was “truly one of the greatest TV events ever”, adding: “I can’t agree more with all those who rated this 10 stars. I’d add an extra one for classic. The subject matter is so engrossing and well directed and paced… I have watched the entire series at least four times and that may total a whole day or more of my life, but well worth it.”

“Among the finest TV has had to offer,” said another impressed viewer, saying it was “due to terrific acting, a very engaging script and the time to properly tell the story of the first four Roman emperors”.

“Before CG, before high definition, and concerning the antics of a 2000 year old family, I Claudius made television history as one of the most magical and truly stunning pieces dramas ever created,” remarked another viewer. “Watching it all again fifty years later, it has lost none of its appeal.”

Somebody else posted a review online saying it was “the best TV programme ever made”.

“The best miniseries ever made,” commented someone else on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

“Possibly the best show ever made, certainly in terms of script and acting, which are of the highest level you will ever see on TV,” agreed another fan of the series.

I, Claudius is available on BBC iPlayer.

A woman who suffered a bad back injury during a year-long Buddhist retreat took her own life because she could no longer live with the pain, an inquest has heard.

Wellness teacher Claire Rodway, 52, had been fit and active before she went to stay at the remote monastery.

The challenging retreat involved her performing 650 prostrations – a bowing motion that involves fully extending the body on the floor – every day.

It was said that this ritual ultimately left her in debilitating pain.

She also endured a disrupted sleep pattern as many teachings took place remotely from Nepal at 2am, an inquest into her death heard. 

After five months the former nurse left the Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery on the Holy Isle, an island off Scotland’s west coast.

Ms Rodway, from Christchurch, Dorset, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few months later, which caused her unbearable pain and meant she was unable to volunteer or work.

Ms Rodway was found drowned in the River Avon on October 2 2025. She had left notes for friends and family describing how the condition had ‘destroyed my life’.

Her family claimed the retreat put vulnerable people’s lives in danger as no risk assessments on participants’ health were carried out when they joined.

Senior Buddhist nun Elise Jacobsen, known as Lama Zangmo, told the Bournemouth inquest adjustments were made to address Ms Rodway’s back pain

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The inquest in Bournemouth heard Ms Rodway joined the religious refuge in October 2024.

Her close friend Rosemarie Roberts, who met Ms Rodway when they volunteered for a Buddhist centre in Scarborough, East Yorks, said she had warned her the intense retreat would be ‘very difficult and challenging’.

Ms Rodway said she was confident she could deal with the challenge, but later told Ms Roberts she regretted going to the Holy Isle.

During her stay, Ms Rodway wrote to Ms Roberts to say she was ‘feeling lost’, that her pain ‘was worse’.

As well as the prostrations the retreat also involved evenings spent in complete silence for several hours.

Senior Buddhist nun Elise Jacobsen, known as Lama Zangmo, told the Bournemouth inquest that adjustments were made to address Ms Rodway’s back pain.

She was given advice that the prostrations could be modified, such as to a kneeling or sitting position, but said Ms Rodway preferred to do the full-length pose.

She said Ms Rodway had completed 100,000 prostrations in five months, but others had taken years to do them, adding: ‘It’s not a numbers game’.

After leaving the retreat on February 16 2025, Ms Rodway stayed elsewhere on the island until April 2. She went to see her GP about the back pain two weeks later.

By June the pain was so debilitating she had to move in with her mother Christine and was then diagnosed with fibromyalgia on July 3.

Her doctor said she was really struggling with the pain. She was put on strong painkillers and antidepressants and given referrals to the mental health and pain management teams.

She was on a six-week waiting list for pain management when her family reported her missing on October 2 and her body was found on the same day.

Ms Rodway, from Christchurch, Dorset, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few months later, which caused her unbearable pain and meant she was unable to volunteer or work

A post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death as drowning.

The inquest heard police officers searched her bedroom and found closed letters addressed to family and friends.

They read: ‘Fibromyalgia has destroyed my life. I have fought it and tried many things to improve it.

‘I have taken many medications to help but it just slowly robs me of more and more.

‘The pain is unbearable by the end of the day, it never goes away from first thing onwards. I feel I already have poor quality of life. I have nothing to give – I can’t volunteer or work.’

Ms Rodway’s family raised concerns about a lack of risk assessment and evaluation of potential participants at the retreat by medical professionals.

Ellen Robertson, counsel for the family, said: ‘It’s a remote island with no medical facilities available.

‘A great deal of people on the retreat will have taken vows of silence, people are undergoing a huge change in their environment.

‘These retreats will always, by their nature, involve a risk of attracting vulnerable people and make people more vulnerable when they are there.

‘The way in which this organisation is operating is not safe.

‘Lama Zangmo said there were no major risks. That as a belief is horrifying, that culture is one that puts people in danger.’

But Helen Richardson, a trustee of the ROKPA Trust, who ran the monastery, said they had a consistent high safety record for their longer retreats.

She said in over 30 years only 6 per cent of retreatants had left early and there were no known occasions of them leaving early due to physical complications relating to the ngondro procedure.

Assistant coroner Richard Middleton gave a conclusion of suicide and said he did not believe Ms Rodway’s death was preventable.

He said he was satisfied the monastery had taken appropriate action to address issues when they arose and doctors had made clinical decisions and appropriate referrals.

Mr Middleton said: ‘I do not believe I can establish a causal link between her time at the retreat and her death.

‘Ms Roberts gave evidence following her meeting with Ms Rodway in June 2025 she described how she had pain throughout her body and fear for the future as she knew it was getting worse and she would not be able to do things that gave her life meaning.

‘She also described the debilitating nature of her condition in notes of intent left immediately prior to her death.

‘Dr Mukherjee said it is difficult to diagnose what may trigger the onset of fibromyalgia.

‘It may not be a single event. It may be events over months or years. It may be possible to isolate a moment in time someone starts to suffer – for example Covid, menopause or the break up of a serious relationship.

‘It may be the boom and bust experience from some sort of strenuous task.

‘Ms Robertson suggested on behalf of the family the unearthing of trauma, the potential one is completing 650 prostrations a day for six months and a fairly disrupted sleep pattern, those three elements could have caused the onset.

‘He said he was unable to say but common sense will say it is possible those three elements could have worsened the fibromyalgia.’

But Mr Middleton said he would not make a preventing future deaths report as the trust had carried out investigations and reviews since Ms Rodway’s death which had ‘raised the bar’ for their rules, principles and standards.

By ZOE HARDY, HEALTH REPORTER

Published: 10:27 BST, 30 July 2026 | Updated: 11:07 BST, 30 July 2026

Reading books, walking and bike riding are among the secrets of a long and healthy life, say residents in the English neighbourhoods with the longest life expectancy.

But people in the worst place, Blackpool – where men die an average of 10 years earlier – bemoaned drug abuse, cheap booze and fast food, as well as poor housing.

In the areas where people lived longest, residents told the Daily Mail how there are more activities and facilities such as leisure centres and libraries to keep people active physically and mentally as they got older.

There were also better shops selling a good range of healthy food, as well as easy access to medical services and GP appointments.

Locals in the healthiest places praised green space, parks and countryside giving opportunities for exercise and spending time outdoors in pleasant environments.

Analysis by The King’s Fund published this week found the Lancashire seaside resort has the lowest life expectancy of anywhere in the country, at 73.7 years for men and 79.1 years for women.

The health and social care think tank’s study also found there was low life expectancy across the former industrial and urban areas of northern England – although life expectancy shot up in rural and more affluent parts of the North.

Meanwhile, in Hampshire’s prosperous Hart district – which has previously been voted the best place to live in a national survey – life expectancy averages 83.7 years for men and 86.2 years for women.

Kensington: In the London borough, women can expect to live even longer, averaging 87.1 years, while the figure is 82.2 for men

In Hart, life expectancy averages are 83.7 years for men and 86.2 years for women. Jane Nicholson, 60, said there were plenty of active spaces, a golf club, leisure centres – and great healthcare

In the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, women can expect to live even longer, averaging 87.1 years, while the figure is 82.2 for men.

Life expectancy is also very high in areas such as the Uttlesford district of rural Essex, where it averages 86.4 years for women.

Residents of Britain’s top borough for living a long life praised the area’s green spaces, places for walking and cycling – as well as good healthcare and opportunities for older people to keep active.

Hart, centred around the town of Fleet, has been ranked near the top of the Halifax Quality of Life Survey on several occasions, coming top in 2012 and third in 2020.

Much of the area remains rural – despite large-scale housebuilding – and facilities for sport and leisure have been rated ‘excellent’.

Residents of the district also reported higher than average levels of life satisfaction – 8.2 out of 10, compared to 7.8 for the UK in general. Employment levels were also significantly higher for Hart at 87.2 per cent, compared to 75 per cent for the rest of the country.

In data from the 2021 census, 54.8 per cent of people reported being in ‘very good health’, placing Hart in the top 20 per cent for local authority areas across the UK.

But the cost of buying a home in the district is 4.5 times that of Blackpool, with provisional Office for National Statistics data from May showing the average home in Hart cost £487,000, compared with £134,000 in Blackpool.

Adrian Mann, 79, moved to the Hart area from London 18 months ago. He said: ‘When we moved to Fleet, we really noticed the difference. 

‘There are always people in their 80s walking around the town centre. The cemetery is also full of people who have lived well into their 90s – a good age.

‘I think this is down to the clean air. There are also lots of walks, parks and also the pond. There are quite a lot of churches, the library as well – it has the facilities for older people.’

Mr Mann’s partner, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘I hadn’t been well before we moved here and then suddenly after living in the area, my symptoms completely went.

‘I put it down to the clean air. With the number of trees, it is basically the countryside. People are encouraged to get out and about in Fleet.

‘The medical care is good and there are a lot of organisations for older people which get them out of their houses.’

Retired solicitor Robert Cook, 79, and his wife Linda, 84, have lived in Fleet for 35 years during which they say it has undergone a huge population increase and independent retailers have closed – but it remains ‘very pleasant’.

Mr Cook said: ‘To stay healthy, we try to go out most days; we don’t stay at home watching the telly all day. We often go out to Waitrose, M&S and some of the other shops.

‘You see a lot of the older population around the town. People come to retire here. Hart in general is very pleasant.’

Mrs Cook added: ‘The healthcare in the area is excellent. There are a few practices in Fleet and you can get an appointment often on the same day or the following day.’

Charlotte Dando, 44, moved to Hart with her mother Christine Swain, 82.

She said: ‘I love living here. We’ve been here seven years, and we moved from Camberley. The schools are great. We are in walking distance from the town.

‘My mother moved here too and she lives in an annex in our garden. We are not surprised at all that people here live the longest in the UK. There’s lot going on – all the parks, there are also really good cycle paths. You can cycle down the canal. My husband cycles to work. There are just a lot of outdoorsy things on your doorstep.’

Blackpool: Analysis this week found the Lancashire seaside resort has the lowest life expectancy of anywhere in the country, at 73.7 years for men and 79.1 years for women

Retired solicitor Robert Cook, 79, and wife Linda, 84, have lived in Fleet for 35 years

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Residents in Blackpool bemoaned a ‘shocking’ string of social problems for contributing to low life expectancy

Hart, centred around the town of Fleet, has been ranked near the top of the Halifax Quality of Life Survey on several occasions, coming top in 2012 and third in 2020

Kensington: Residents of Britain’s top borough for living a long life praised the area’s green spaces, places for walking and cycling – as well as good healthcare and opportunities for older people to keep active

Mrs Dando said she believes diet and exercise help keep people healthy, with walking ‘massively important’. She also praised the availability of health food shops and places selling fresh and organic foods.

Jane Nicholson, 60, said: ‘Hart is a lovely area to live in and it’s been known to be so for quite a long time.

‘In terms of active spaces, there is North Hants golf club just down the road. There are also leisure centres. The healthcare is also great. I have always had a good experience.’

In contrast, residents in Blackpool bemoaned a ‘shocking’ string of social problems for contributing to low life expectancy.

Locals claimed to have seen drug addicts shooting up heroin in the street as well as drunk homeless people passed out.

The area also has a chronic shortage of NHS dentists – with one man admitting he had to pull out four of his own teeth.

Cheap fast food shops in the Lancashire tourist mecca sell burgers for £1, while pubs advertise pints of beer for as little as £1.69.

Expectant mother-of-one Tegan Milner, 23, said: ‘Some of the things you see are shocking.

‘There’s a lot of drunk people fighting in the street which has led to stabbings.

‘I don’t feel safe going out at night. I just go out in the day.’

The former hotel worker added: ‘You also see a lot of drug taking.

‘I saw one druggie take out a needle and inject himself with heroin right in the middle of the street in the middle of the day.

‘You don’t want to see that and I don’t want my kids around it.’

Plasterer Jamie Hornby, 54, who was out walking his dog Skye, said: ‘It doesn’t surprise me the life expectancy is so low here.

‘There’s a lot of drug taking and homeless people drunk in the street.

‘They have cleaned up the sea front but you see a lot of druggies around the public toilets.

‘And having lots of cheap fast food doesn’t help.

‘I keep fit taking the dog for a walk every day but a lot of people don’t look after themselves.’

Pensioner Colin Stead, 65, said: ‘You see a lot of poverty here but is pretty devastating.

‘A lot of people can’t afford to buy healthy food or they just buy cheap stuff.

‘Prices have gone up all the time and people have struggled to make ends meet.’

Retired John Ellis, 66, said: ‘Blackpool has a lot of problems.

‘There are a lot of cheap drugs and alcohol sold which doesn’t help. Some of the housing is very poor – it’s also very cheap.’

The health of the local population has not been helped by a dearth of NHS dentists.

Father-of-four Andrew Abernethy, 45, revealed he had been forced to pull out four of his own teeth.

He said: ‘I couldn’t get a dentist and so I just did it myself. I just got a pair of pliers and pulled them out.

‘Fortunately, I have a high threshold for pain but you don’t really want to have to do it yourself.

‘There’s a lot of problems in Blackpool – I blame the government for a lot of it.’

Some 250 miles south, people on the streets of Kensington espoused the benefits of exercise, keeping mentally active and a healthy diet.

Chrissie Fraser, 77, said: ‘I continue with my healthy outlook like going out walking, being careful with my diet, and I don’t really drink.

‘Probably the secret for everybody is if they go and read a few more books.

‘(For) every individual person, it’s nothing to do with access, it’s to do with what’s going on in your head.

‘You can now access the most fantastic information that I didn’t have as a girl. It was the library and my bicycle, I think the answer is a book and a bike.

‘It’s cheaper to eat well, isn’t it? I think it’s to do with who you think you are, I think it’s a bit more about the individual.’

She added: ‘I would be happier mentally [in the north] because it’s cheaper to live there. If I sold my flat in Kensington, I could buy something spectacular in Newcastle. So my mental well-being would probably be quite good, the only thing is I don’t want to go to Newcastle.’

Some people in Kensington were surprised northerners weren’t more healthy given their better access to outdoor space.

The health and social care think tank’s study also found there was low life expectancy across the former industrial and urban areas of northern England – although life expectancy shot up in rural and more affluent parts of the North. Pictured, Blackpool

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Marion Bennett, 70, said: ‘They should be healthier (in the North) shouldn’t they?’

She said she would have expected northerners to be healthier because of ‘better access’ to outdoor space.

Ms Bennett, who used to play netball, tennis and go skiing, added: ‘I do a tremendous amount of walking, I think it stands you in good stead for your later life.

‘Make sure you get your vegetables every day, I’m not so good at drinking water though.’

A healthy diet was important for Francis Ley, 79, who said: ‘I would recommend organic stuff, apples, pears, oranges, blueberries, potatoes, tomatoes, everything that’s organic.

‘Years ago, everything used to be organic before pesticides, and then that came but now they’re going back to organic.

‘But they’re having to pay more now because the earth now is saturated with the so-called chemicals. It’s fast living.

‘That’s why a lot of people are ill and sick because when you go into fast food restaurants, it’s all fried.’

But Lawrence Oji, 73, admitted he could improve his lifestyle as he ‘hardly exercises’ which he knows is ‘not good’.

He said: ‘Only my youngest daughter is particular about what she eats. She’s in a boarding school and she’s so concerned about it. She drinks up to two litres of water every day, I don’t.

‘I’m shocked to hear that people in London live longer because (in the North) you get less pollution, you get more greenery, you get more trees and all that so I would’ve thought it was the other way around.’

And Matthew Martin, 62, who lives in a housing association flat in Earl’s Court but was homeless at one time, said that even with a ‘very small amount of money’ a healthy diet is possible.

He said: ‘I’ve been homeless myself and I know with a very small amount of money you can buy eggs, pasta, tomatoes, you can make soup. It’s not a grand living but you can live reasonably well.’

Paul Edwards, 53, a father of two from Maidstone, Kent, who was visiting Kensington, said he paid attention to his health.

He said: ‘I take supplements, go to the gym and try to avoid saturated fats, salts and all that.

‘My mum’s family’s from Cumbria so I’m quite aware of the difference between housing and lifestyle between northern and southern communities.

‘When I visit there I know exactly the difference and I feel really fortunate to live in south-east, though it feels crowded and overpopulated at times, the standard of housing is better and the awareness of healthy lifestyles, in my opinion, is more prevalent in the southeast than it is up there.’

The King’s Fund said life expectancy in England in 2025 reached the highest levels ever recorded, but the gains in longevity were not shared equally.

It said geographical inequalities reflect socio-economic inequalities and greater levels of deprivation in northern regions – and called the problem a ‘mark of shame’.

People living in the most deprived 30 per cent of areas experienced a fall or no improvement in life expectancy in the decade to 2022-24. And geographical and socio-economic inequalities in life expectancy have been widening since 2010, and people in all regions spend fewer years in good health.

Veena Raleigh, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund said: ‘That people in our northern and deprived communities have seen little or no improvement in longevity over a decade, in contrast to the health gains in their southern and more well-off counterparts, is a mark of shame for an affluent country. 

‘Addressing this inequity in the nation’s health is not just a matter of social justice, it would reduce pressures on the NHS and the high economic costs of ill health.’