The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is advancing at an unprecedented pace, surpassing 1,000 deaths in just two months. The country's 17th Ebola outbreak, declared on May 15, 2026, had already claimed 1,309 lives by July 25 according to Congolese authorities.
Meanwhile, 2,536 confirmed cases have been recorded, including 738 patients in isolation or hospital care and 506 recoveries. The case fatality rate has reached 40.7 percent, while only 77.2 percent of identified contacts are being successfully monitored, highlighting the challenges facing the response.
These figures illustrate the dramatic acceleration of the outbreak. On June 12, less than a month after the epidemic was declared, the DRC had recorded 136 deaths. Just six weeks later, nearly 900 more people had died. This rapid increase has raised serious concerns among both national health authorities and international organisations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the outbreak is far from under control. “The outbreak continues to expand, and we are still playing catch-up,” Dr Thierno Baldé, WHO's Ebola Incident Manager in the DRC, during a press briefing from Bunia.
According to him, new chains of transmission are emerging even as health teams struggle to contain the epidemic's epicentre in Ituri Province.
Ituri accounts for nearly 90 percent of all reported cases, but the virus has now spread to five provinces: North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uélé and Tshopo. For WHO, this geographical expansion demonstrates that the virus continues to outpace response efforts.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued an urgent appeal to the international community. “The outbreak continues to outpace the response,” he warned, noting that insecurity and armed conflict continue to prevent health workers from reaching many affected communities. “More than 2,500 cases have been reported so far. However, because insecurity and ongoing conflict continue to restrict access to affected areas, it is estimated that the actual number of infected people could be more than twice as high.”
WHO says that while around 80 percent of identified contacts are now being monitored, response teams are still unable to reach every community, diagnose every infected person or deploy emergency teams wherever they are needed.
Tedros also stressed that political action is now as important as medical intervention. “We face technical challenges, but political action towards a ceasefire is also essential to improve humanitarian access and urgently scale up the response.”
The scale of the current crisis becomes even more striking when compared with the major Ebola outbreak that affected eastern DRC between 2019 and 2020. That epidemic, regarded as one of the deadliest in the country's history, claimed around 2,300 lives over nearly two years. By contrast, the current outbreak has already surpassed 1,000 deaths in just two months and one week, underscoring its exceptionally rapid spread.
The Bundibugyo strain responsible for the current outbreak, previously considered less deadly than the Zaire strain, is proving equally devastating. Its fatality rate has now climbed to around 40 percent.
This increasingly complex situation has forced health authorities to adapt their strategy. WHO is strengthening response capacity in newly affected provinces while reinforcing surveillance along the Congo River, a major transport corridor that could accelerate the virus's spread. Contact tracing, safe and dignified burials, and community awareness campaigns remain central to the response. “The boundaries between what is safe and what is unsafe can become one of the main drivers of this outbreak,” Dr Baldé said, stressing that community engagement remains essential to breaking chains of transmission.
The Congolese government is also stepping up its response. During a mission to Tshopo and Ituri on July 23, Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka chaired a meeting in Kisangani, a newly affected city, to assess the response before visiting the provincial public health laboratory.
Authorities announced increased funding, the imminent opening of a new provincial reference laboratory, expanded training for community health workers and stronger coordination with Africa CDC, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and United Nations agencies. “The earlier people seek treatment, the fewer deaths we will have because they can receive care much sooner,” the Prime Minister said, emphasising the importance of early diagnosis.
Children are also paying a heavy price. According to Save the Children, 189 children have died, while 476 others have been infected. Thousands more are living with trauma after losing relatives, being displaced or living under the constant threat of infection.
The health emergency is further complicated by logistical and financial constraints. Although clinical trials of new treatments and a vaccine candidate are underway, humanitarian organisations fear the outbreak has not yet reached its peak. Limited funding, persistent insecurity, and population displacement continue to hamper response efforts. The DRC currently hosts more than seven million internally displaced people, many of them in Ebola-affected provinces.
For WHO, the conclusion is unequivocal: without a significant increase in resources and improved humanitarian access, the epidemic curve is likely to continue rising in the coming weeks.
Both Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and WHO have warned that the outbreak is spreading faster than the current response can contain it.
Congolese Health Minister Dr Roger Kamba has strongly rejected that assessment, insisting that the country's response remains fully adequate.
Despite these assurances, WHO's Director-General has issued a final plea. “The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot face this outbreak alone. They need sustained support from the international community. And above all, they need peace.”
