WHO reports 344 Ebola cases, 60 deaths in DR Congo

World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed 344 cases of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including 60 deaths, as authorities intensify efforts to contain the outbreak across three provinces.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who recently visited the outbreak’s epicentre in Ituri Province, said the disease has spread across 24 health zones in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, but noted that response efforts were beginning to gain ground.

Speaking during a media briefing on Wednesday, Tedros disclosed that the number of suspected cases had dropped significantly from more than 1,000 last week to 116 as health authorities worked through a backlog of investigations to confirm or rule out infections.

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“The outbreak had a big head start, and we’re still behind, but under the leadership of the Government of DRC, we are catching up,” he said.

According to WHO, Uganda has also recorded 15 confirmed cases and one death linked to the outbreak. The agency revealed that one infected Congolese resident travelled to the United Arab Emirates before entering Uganda, prompting ongoing investigations and contact-tracing efforts involving both countries.

A United States citizen infected in the DRC is currently receiving treatment in Germany.

Despite the cross-border cases, WHO maintained its assessment of the outbreak as posing a “very high” risk at the national level, “high” at the regional level and “low” globally.

Tedros expressed optimism after meeting political leaders, health officials, community representatives, faith leaders, women’s groups, traditional healers, and frontline responders during his visit.

The WHO chief disclosed that three Ebola treatment centres with a combined capacity of 80 beds have been established in Bunia, while treatment units are also operational in Mongbwalu, Rwampara, Beni, Goma and Bukavu.

He added that six patients in the DRC and two in Uganda have recovered, underscoring the importance of early diagnosis and access to care, but identified weak diagnostic capacity, inadequate contact tracing, insecurity and community mistrust as key obstacles to controlling the outbreak.

According to him, only about 45 per cent of identified contacts are currently being monitored in the DRC, far below the level required to interrupt transmission effectively.

“Insecurity, displacement and mobile populations make contact tracing especially difficult,” he said.

He disclosed that WHO is now working to decentralise laboratory and diagnostic services to priority locations, including Mongbwalu, Beni, Aru, Nyakunde and Tchomia, to speed up case confirmation and response.

Tedros also expressed concern over travel restrictions imposed by some countries, warning that blanket measures are disrupting supply chains and hindering response operations.

He urged countries to replace broad travel bans with exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings, in line with WHO recommendations.

Tedros stressed that while vaccines and treatments would be valuable, the most important tools for ending the outbreak remain effective leadership, community ownership, strong partnerships, and public trust.

He expressed confidence that the DRC, which has successfully contained 16 previous Ebola outbreaks, would overcome the current crisis.

“Our ultimate measure of success is not whether we stop this outbreak. We will. The real measure of success is what we do to prevent the next outbreak,” he said.

WHO said it would continue supporting the DRC government and affected communities while strengthening broader health services to address other major health threats, including malaria, malnutrition, pneumonia, HIV, and non-communicable diseases.