Congo’s fast-moving Ebola outbreak has now killed over 2,300 people and become the deadliest outbreak of the disease on record in the Central African nation.

The outbreak unfolding in one of Congo’s most vulnerable regions is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever, with 4,945 cases including 2,325 deaths, according to government data released overnight into Monday (August 17, 2026).

This is Congo’s 17th and largest Ebola outbreak. The toll eclipses that of the country’s 2018-2020 outbreak when 2,299 deaths out of 3,481 cases were recorded.

The latest data shows 101 new cases and 33 deaths reported in the previous 24 hours. Over 1,000 people have recovered, while 730 remain in hospitals or isolation.

The outbreak has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other outbreak in history. The World Health Organization has said it is on track to surpass the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the deadliest on record with more than 11,000 deaths.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for the current outbreak across six provinces in Congo’s east. Trials for those are ongoing in Ituri province, the epicentre.

Most new cases and deaths are being reported outside of people being monitored. Challenges also include strikes by some unpaid health workers, threats by rebel groups, anger from long-traumatised communities, territories difficult to reach due to bad roads, and misinformation asserting that Ebola isn’t real.

WHO warned over the weekend that the outbreak is still moving at an “exceptional pace” ahead of efforts to track it, noting that it reached a weekly record of 579 cases and 304 deaths in the previous week.

“A substantial scaling up of response activities is underway to get ahead of the outbreak,” the agency said.

On Friday, United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher announced the allocation of an additional $30.5 million and the deployment of 20 more staff to aid the response on the frontlines.

“This is a wake-up call,” Mr. Fletcher said. “We need speed, scale and solidarity before this virus gets even further ahead of us.”

India has sent emergency pharmaceutical supplies to support efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Congo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday (May 28, 2026).

In a social media post, Ethiopia-headquartered Africa CDC said the consignment, donated by India, was received in Uganda by its Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre.

The supplies include essential diagnostics, therapeutics, infection prevention and control materials, and case management support, which will be deployed to affected communities in eastern DR Congo, it said.

“Africa CDC welcomes the arrival of emergency pharmaceutical supplies generously donated by the Government and people of India to support the ongoing response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC,” the continental public health agency said.

It thanked India for its “continued support and commitment to protecting lives and advancing health security across the continent”.

The Bundibugyo strain is one of the six known species of the Ebola virus and has caused periodic outbreaks in parts of Africa since it was first identified in Uganda in 2007.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are no approved drugs or vaccines for the strain of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus. Ebola is a severe and often fatal illness transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, contaminated materials or infected animals. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.

The virus can get into the human population when people have close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope, or porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

India has, in recent years, expanded its health and development partnership with African countries through the supply of medicines, vaccines and medical assistance, particularly during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WHO declared the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17.

As of Tuesday (May 26, 2026), more than 1,000 suspected infections and at least 220 fatalities had been reported, including seven confirmed cases in Uganda, though the WHO and aid agencies say the actual scale of the outbreak might be significantly higher.

Ugandan health authorities on Monday (May 25, 2026) reported two new Ebola cases, bringing the number of infections to seven.

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All the cases are linked to the outbreak in neighbouring Congo, which appears to have started several days or weeks before Congolese authorities declared it on May 15, 2026.

A 59-year-old Congolese man was admitted to a hospital in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, on May 11, 2026, and died three days later, before it was known that he was suffering from the Ebola virus. Two other Congolese nationals who sought medical care in Uganda later tested positive for Ebola.

Ugandan health authorities on Saturday (May 23, 2026) confirmed the first local infections: a driver and a health worker exposed to the Congolese patient who died on May 11, 2026. Two more health workers at a private hospital in Kampala have tested positive, the Ministry of Health said Monday (May 25, 2026).

In Congo, suspected Ebola cases have topped 900, mainly in the eastern Ituri Province, where the ongoing outbreak is centred, authorities said on Sunday (May 24, 2026). The response has been hampered by fear, anger, and frustration among locals, including attacks on treatment centres, as well as distrust of authorities in a region long plagued by armed violence.

The outbreak has been declared a global health emergency. The Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccine or treatment.