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56m ago

Ebola Deaths in DRC Top 3,000 as Outbreak Accelerates

Facing rapid unseen transmission outpacing response, WHO calls for a $1.3 billion surge in funding and faster vaccine trials.

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People dressed in protective gear lower into a grave the coffin containing the remains of Jeannine Katusabe, who died of Ebola, during a burial service in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)
Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tours the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM), one of the facilities at the forefront of the response to the Ebola outbreak during his visit to coordinate the response to the Ebola outbreak, as agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain, in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/ File Photo

Overview

  • The DRC government reported 6,186 confirmed Ebola cases and 3,007 laboratory-confirmed deaths, data that the ministry released on Wednesday shows.
  • WHO director-general Tedros said many deaths are among people not on contact lists, which means unknown chains of transmission and unsafe burials are driving spread.
  • U.S. CDC assessments say containment measures remain below established targets and that infections are moving quickly across multiple health zones.
  • There is no approved vaccine or treatment for the outbreak's Bundibugyo virus, so authorities are using the Zaire-strain vaccine Ervebo under research protocols while preparing efficacy trials of three candidate vaccines.
  • Response operations are strained by armed insecurity, strikes by unpaid health workers, population movement, and poor roads, and WHO says the shortfall in financing must be filled to expand testing, treatment beds, contact tracing and safe burials.