DR Congo Ebola outbreak 'far from being under control'

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Geneva, Switzerland: The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving faster than any previous outbreak and remains far from being under control, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Tuesday. The escalating health crisis risks spreading to more countries as national authorities struggle to contain the virus.

Declared on May 15, the nation's 17th Ebola outbreak has become the deadliest in Congolese history, causing over 2,300 deaths out of nearly 5,000 recorded cases.

The Africa CDC noted that three months in, the surge recorded seven times more cases than West Africa’s massive 2013–2016 epidemic did over a similar timeframe.

Ongoing insecurity, weak state infrastructure, and heavy movement along river and mining routes in northern and eastern regions are heavily fueling transmission.

High numbers of unrecorded deaths occurring outside healthcare centers indicate that unidentified transmission chains continue to drive the epidemic forward.

The health agency assesses public health risk as very high nationally and high for neighboring countries like Uganda, where cases have already appeared. No specific vaccine exists for the active Bundibugyo strain, prompting emergency efforts to scale up community-level surveillance.