The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is recording between 50 and 80 new confirmed Ebola cases daily, raising concerns over the scale and containment of the ongoing outbreak, the World Health Organisation has said.
The Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday.
According to him, the outbreak has so far resulted in approximately 10,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths, with eight provinces affected in the eastern part of the country.
Ihekweazu described the situation as severe, stressing that the number of new infections recorded daily remained a major concern.
“Unfortunately, we’re now at 10,000 cases and close to 5,000 deaths. We’re reporting 50 to 80 new confirmed cases every single day. So the situation is still very dire,” he said.
He added that the outbreak had spread across a large geographical area, with eight provinces affected, an area he compared to eight states in Nigeria.
The current outbreak, which was declared on May 15, 2026, is the country’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak. It has affected eastern and northeastern areas, including Ituri and North Kivu provinces, where insecurity and inadequate health infrastructure have hindered response efforts.
The outbreak is approaching the death toll of the country’s 2018–2020 Ebola epidemic, which killed nearly 2,300 people out of approximately 3,500 reported cases.
Figures released by Congolese health authorities in August put the fatality rate of the current outbreak at 45.9 per cent. At the time, the country’s Health Minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, warned that the outbreak had not yet peaked.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, also raised concerns about infected people dying at home without receiving medical attention.
“We are only seeing 30 percent (of infected people), while 70 percent of people are dying at home. This is why this Ebola is different,” Janabi said.
Meanwhile, concerns persist over vaccine availability, as the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the outbreak does not have a specifically approved vaccine.
WHO vaccine experts have recommended full-scale human trials to determine whether Ervebo, a vaccine approved for the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, could also provide protection against the Bundibugyo strain.
The global vaccine alliance, Gavi, has also indicated that doses from its stockpile would be made available for the trials, with some vaccines already in DR Congo.
The ongoing outbreak has highlighted the challenges facing health authorities as they work to identify infections, reach affected communities and strengthen containment measures.
