Overview
- WHO reported Wednesday that total confirmed deaths linked to the outbreak reached 1,001, with 999 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and two in Uganda.
- The agency records 2,473 confirmed infections in eastern DRC and 20 in Uganda, signaling ongoing cross-border transmission risk.
- Health officials say most recent cases were not previously identified as contacts, which has broken key chains of surveillance and slowed efforts to interrupt spread.
- DRC authorities and WHO are scaling up treatment and response capacity in hard-hit areas such as Ituri province and the city of Bunia, but access problems and attacks on health teams continue to constrain operations.
- Two months after WHO declared a public health emergency, the unfolding situation raises the prospect of wider regional spread unless contact tracing, security for response teams, and cross-border coordination improve.