The Ebola outbreak in Congo has reached 5,000 cases, government data showed on Wednesday (August 19, 2026), as responders warn it is spreading at an unprecedented speed outpacing efforts to slow it in one of the country’s remotest regions.

Data from Congo’s Ministry of Health showed the outbreak had so far recorded 5,021 cases, including 2,378 deaths as of Sunday (August 16, 2026), as it rages in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fuelled by insecurity, displacement and intense population movements.

The outbreak has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other outbreak in history.

Starting from the first detected case, it has spread about three times faster than an outbreak from 2014 to 2016 across West Africa, which was the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record with more than 11,000 deaths.

The outbreak “has spread rapidly and the risk of further national and international spread remains high,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) at a meeting convened by the agency.

“We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” he said.

Safety concerns have limited the response as health workers are targeted, particularly in Ituri, the province that has been hit the worst by the outbreak.

Residents on Monday (August 17, 2026) attacked a health team in the territory of Aru after a suspected case was reported there. A mob set fire to an ambulance and damaged two other vehicles, according to Michael Wani, president of the Union of Cultural Associations for the Development of Ituri.

The ​World Health Organization (WHO) said the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resulted in 321 confirmed cases, along with 116 suspected cases, marking a large drop in the number of suspected cases as hundreds were ruled ‌out after investigation.

The agency said on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) there had been 48 deaths and six people have recovered in Congo. ‌The Congolese authorities first put out the new case numbers on ‌Monday (June 1, 2026).

WHO declares international emergency as Ebola outbreak kills more than 80 in DR Congo

In ⁠Uganda there have been nine confirmed cases and one associated ⁠death, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva.

The WHO said on Friday (May 29, 2026) that there were 906 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic ​of Congo, including 223 suspected deaths ‌that were being investigated. Later Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an Financial Times (FT) op-ed published on Sunday (May 31, 2026) that more than 1,100 suspected cases were being investigated.

When asked ‌why the latest figures showed a significantly lower number of ​suspected cases, Mr. Lindmeier said the data suggested hundreds of cases had been discounted. “They have been cleared out and have ⁠either other diseases or have just had fever and nothing else,” Mr.  Lindmeier said, adding that the numbers would fluctuate over time as people get ‌tested. “A suspected case includes anyone who is picked up by surveillance or who presents with symptoms at a health centre,” he added. Confirmed cases include only those who have tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo.

Testing has been a challenge in this outbreak as initially the more common tests used for Ebola did not detect the Bundibugyo strain, for which ‌there is no approved vaccine, and capacity has been limited.

The U.S. Centers for Disease ​Control and Prevention’s website also listed 116 suspected cases, and added: “On May 29, the DRC Ministry of Health updated their ⁠total suspect case count to remove suspected cases that have been ruled ⁠out after investigation and suspected deaths that are pending the results of ongoing investigation.”

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced ‌the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, on May 15, and the WHO swiftly declared ​it a public health emergency of international concern.

Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is complicating efforts to rein in a deadly Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization chief warned on Wednesday (May 27, 2026), while Uganda announced it was shutting its border.

The WHO has recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the DRC since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, with more than 1,000 additional suspected cases.

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Its chief fears insecurity in the eastern DRC, which has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving a litany of armed groups, is making it extremely difficult to contain the outbreak.

“Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response,” the UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

Neighbouring Uganda, which has recorded seven cases of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola responsible for the outbreak, announced it was shutting its border with the DRC with immediate effect.

It also said it was imposing a 21-day quarantine on anyone arriving from the DRC, under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and district surveillance teams.

No vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the DRC’s 17th recorded outbreak of the disease.

The WHO said the case fatality rate was under 25 percent — much lower than in other recent outbreaks.

But it has also said the true spread of the virus was probably much wider than confirmed numbers suggest, with the strain likely circulating for some time before it was detected.

State services in rural areas of Ituri province have been largely absent for decades.

Tedros lamented that clashes were “driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors”.

“Frontline workers are risking everything, while attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible,” he warned.

“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” Tedros said, urging “all warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire to contain this outbreak”.

The United States plans to open a quarantine centre in Kenya, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, primarily intended for Americans who need to leave the DRC quickly and quarantine.

The director-general of the ​World Health Organisation, Tedros ⁠Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday (May 25, 2026) that there had been 220 suspected deaths ‌in the current Ebola outbreak and that a ‌delay in detecting cases ‌meant ⁠responders were now “playing catch-up”.

“We are ⁠urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing ​us,” Mr. Tedros ‌said, adding that countries bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo — the epicentre of the outbreak — should ‌take immediate action.

Earlier on ​Monday (May 24, 2026) Uganda reported two more Ebola cases, taking ⁠its total number of confirmed cases to seven.

The World ‌Health Organisation has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola a public health emergency of international concern.

Mr. Tedros said he would ‌travel to Congo on Tuesday (May 26, 2026) and ​that addressing the fast-moving outbreak was complicated by the ⁠fact that Congo’s Ituri and North ⁠Kivu provinces were highly insecure and there were no ‌approved vaccines for Bundibugyo virus.

Ebola concerns, PCOS to PMOS, NEET cancellation and more | One year of Health Wrap

Ebola concerns, PCOS to PMOS, NEET cancellation and more | One year of Health Wrap 
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The Hindu

At least 80 deaths have been reported in Democratic Republic of Congo’s (Congo) new Ebola disease outbreak in the eastern Ituri province, authorities said, as health workers raced Saturday (May 16, 2026) to intensify screening and contact tracing to contain the disease.

Officials first announced the outbreak on Friday (May 15, 2026) , with 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases.

Meanwhile, Associated Press (AP) journalists in Ituri’s capital, Bunia, interviewed locals who recounted their fears and constant burials.

“Every day, people are dying … and this has been going on for about a week. In a single day, we bury two, three, or even more people,” said Jean Marc Asimwe, a resident of Bunia. “At this point, we don’t really know what kind of disease it is,” said Mr. Asimwe.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said late Friday that there have been eight laboratory-confirmed cases, among them four deaths.

Test results confirmed the Bundibugyo virus, a variant of the disease that has been less prominent in Congo’s past outbreaks. This is Congo’s 17th outbreak since Ebola first emerged in the country in 1976.

Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but severe and often fatal.

The suspected index case in the latest outbreak is a nurse who died at a hospital in Bunia, Mr. Kamba said. He said the case dates back three weeks to Friday (April 24 , 2026).

He did not say whether samples from the nurse were tested, but said the person presented symptoms suggestive of Ebola.

Congo is a large country that often faces logistical challenges Congo has experience in managing Ebola outbreaks but often faces logistical challenges to get expertise and supplies to affected regions.

As Africa’s second-largest country by land area, Congo’s provinces are far from one another and mostly battling conflict. Ituri, for instance, is around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the nation’s capital, Kinshasa, and is ravaged by violence from Islamic State-backed militants.

The disease is so far confirmed in three health zones in the Ituri province, including the capital city, Bunia, as well as in Rwampara and Mongwalu where the outbreak is concentrated.

Only 13 blood samples have been tested at the National Institute of Biomedical Research, eight returning positive with the Bundibugyo strain. The remaining five could not be analyzed due to an insufficient volume of samples, the health minister said.

In Bunia, business appears to be normal , Ituri’s main city, businesses and regular activities at public places appeared to be normal on Friday (May 15, 2026).

Resident Adeline Awekonimungu said she hopes the outbreak is quickly contained. “My recommendation is that the government take this matter seriously and that it takes charge of the hospitals so that this matter can be brought under control,” she said.

Uganda also has confirmed an Ebola case that authorities said was “imported” from Congo. The person died at a hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) and Prevention had said it is concerned about the risk of further spread due to the proximity of affected areas to Uganda and South Sudan.