Overview
- Health authorities reported this week that the outbreak has now reached about 61 health zones across six provinces, with government tallies in the high 6,000s of confirmed cases and roughly 3,300 deaths.
- Provincial officials confirmed a case in Sud-Ubangi after a man who traveled through Rwanda and Uganda returned to Congo and died in Gwaka, showing the virus has moved along major transport corridors.
- Transmission patterns are changing, with new cases and deaths falling in the original Ituri epicenter but rising sharply in North Kivu and Haut-Uele, and North Kivu recorded a jump to 381 cases in the latest three-week period.
- Authorities have begun vaccinating frontline workers with Ervebo and have launched clinical trials for a Bundibugyo-specific vaccine, but dose supply is limited to about 70,000 and trial reach is constrained.
- Response teams say insecurity, population displacement, health worker disruptions, and overfull treatment centres—one report showed 132% bed use in parts of North Kivu—are hampering detection, contact tracing and care and raise the risk of further expansion.