Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield predicted Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak spreading across Africa could become a “very significant pandemic.”

The CDC reported that as of Thursday there are 51 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with 575 suspected cases and 148 suspected deaths.

Redfield, who served as the CDC director under President Donald Trump's first administration from 2018 to 2021, said he expects the virus to spread across at least three more African countries. It has not spread beyond Africa so far.

“I suspect this is going to become a very significant pandemic, probably going to leak into Tanzania, leak into southern Sudan, maybe leak into Rwanda,” Redfield told NewsNation.” “So, it’s going to be very disruptive."