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Ebola Outbreak in Eastern DRC Surges Past 700 Cases

Late detection, weak surveillance, insecurity and limited treatment capacity are widening the outbreak and raising the threat to displaced people and children.

A sign near the Nizi health centre during an Ebola awareness session as humanitarian agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, at Kpangba displacement camp where Ebola cases were observed, Djugu territory in Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 13, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere.
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Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visits health workers at the Evangelical Medical Centre (CEM) in Bunia, Congo, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Overview

  • By June 14, DRC health authorities reported roughly 710 confirmed cases and about 149 deaths, with infections recorded across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu and exported cases in Uganda.
  • The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo Ebola virus for which no licensed vaccine or strain‑specific treatment exists, so care is mainly supportive while experimental candidates are fast‑tracked.
  • Response teams have expanded labs, treatment sites and community workers but face diagnostic backlogs, only around 250 isolation beds across the provinces, and contact tracing that remains incomplete.
  • Fighting, deep community mistrust and attacks on response teams have blocked access, led to unsafe burials, and allowed cases to go untraced in crowded displacement camps including Kpangba where Ebola deaths were confirmed.
  • Agencies warn the true scale may be higher, children and displaced people are especially vulnerable, and international appeals say critical funding and humanitarian access are still short of what is needed to control spread.