Overview
- Since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, more than 1,700 confirmed cases and about 600 deaths have been reported, with roughly 1,700–1,800 case counts cited in recent UN and WHO updates.
- The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has called this the fastest‑growing Ebola outbreak on record and warned the virus is outpacing the current response capacity.
- The virus remains centred in Ituri province but has spread into North and South Kivu, reached Kisangani in Tshopo with an unlinked case, and crossed into Uganda where about 20 cases have been confirmed.
- Response teams report critical gaps: contact tracing follow-up is around 82 percent versus a 95 percent WHO target, frontline workers have staged strikes over pay and supplies, and the UN released up to US$60 million from CERF to accelerate operations.
- Clinical trials testing a monoclonal antibody (MBP134) and remdesivir have begun, but health agencies and analysts say at least several hundred million dollars more is needed quickly to scale testing, isolation and care and to avoid larger health and economic losses.