GENEVA: The Ebola outbreak is spreading into new areas of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and is bigger in scale than hitherto detected, the World Health Organization warned Friday. Much more needs to be done to contain the virus, the WHO said, with isolation bed capacity far below the anticipated need, based on how it is spreading. Since the outbreak was declared on May 15, there have been 676 confirmed Ebola cases, including 136 deaths in the DRC, according to the latest figures from the WHO. There are a further 119 suspected cases, while 32 patients have recovered. No approved vaccines or treatments exist for the rare Bundibugyo species of the virus responsible for the current outbreak, which is centred on Ituri province, with cases also detected in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. &quot;The outbreak continues to expand both in terms of case numbers but also in terms of geographic spread,&quot; said Olivier le Polain, the WHO&#39;s head of epidemiology and analytics for response. Contact tracingSpeaking from Beni in North Kivu, he said that cases were being identified in new health zones within the three affected provinces on an almost daily basis. &quot;That reflects really the scale of this outbreak: a scale that is much bigger than what is being detected, and the high mobility of the population,&quot; he told reporters in Geneva. Le Polain said that while in recent weeks, cases in new areas could be traced back to travel from hotspots, now &quot;we also see local community spread in new areas&quot;. &quot;There are still many blind spots in some areas that are high risk,&quot; he added. Le Polain said contact tracing remained below ideal levels, with just over 70 percent of contacts being appropriately traced. &quot;That&#39;s a huge improvement from where we were about a week or two ago, but it&#39;s still too low to ensure appropriate control,&quot; he said. &quot;Surveillance can scale up, but if you don&#39;t have any space to put your patients safely, it becomes very difficult,&quot; he added. He said that &quot;compared to where the epidemiology is heading&quot;, the current capacity of 250 isolation beds across the affected provinces would not be enough and needed scaling up &quot;quite rapidly&quot;. Expected impact on childrenThe UN children&#39;s agency UNICEF warned of a likely rise in cases amongst children via household transmission in the coming weeks. After returning from Ituri&#39;s capital Bunia, Douglas Noble, UNICEF&#39;s global incident manager for Ebola, said that in the province, more than half of children aged under five are chronically malnourished. &quot;The point is: these are already very vulnerable children,&quot; he told reporters. &quot;As the outbreak evolves we must be prepared for increasing household transmission, which means we may see more children affected in the days ahead,&quot; based on previous Ebola crises. &quot;We are expecting it, and we are taking steps in our interventions... to respond to that,&quot; he told reporters. The outbreak has also spread across the border into Uganda, which has recorded 19 confirmed cases, including two deaths. The African Union&#39;s health agency said Thursday that the situation in Uganda was &quot;under control&quot;. The WHO classifies the Ebola risk as very high within the DRC; high for Uganda; high for countries sharing land borders with the DRC and Uganda; and low elsewhere.

Natural Disaster

The WHO warns the Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo is spreading faster and wider than previously detected, with cases rising sharply, healthcare capacity under strain and new areas reporting community transmission.

Ebola spreading into new areas in northeast DR Congo: WHO

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: The International Rescue Committee warned Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely much larger and more advanced than official figures indicate, as response efforts struggle with delayed detection and dangerously low levels of contact tracing. According to World Health Organization data, Ebola is a rare but severe and often fatal illness in humans, with an average case fatality rate of around 50%, ranging from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks. The current outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo virus strain, for which no approved vaccine or specific therapeutics currently exist, according to available epidemiological data. The virus spreads through direct contact with broken skin or mucous membranes and bodily fluids of infected or deceased persons, and through indirect contact with contaminated surfaces or materials, according to WHO tracking. The incubation period is 2 to 21 days, with individuals not contagious until symptoms appear, per WHO guidelines. With only 20% of contacts currently being traced, health authorities are struggling to identify and isolate new chains of transmission, according to the IRC. The virus may have been spreading undetected since before March, potentially as long as three months before the first official case was identified, allowing multiple chains of transmission to establish across communities and provinces, the IRC warned. &quot;The true scale of this Ebola outbreak is likely far worse than official figures suggest,&quot; said Rachel Howard, Senior Technical Emergency Health Adviser at the IRC. &quot;When four out of five contacts are not being traced, it becomes incredibly difficult to contain the outbreak or even understand its true scale. We&#39;re especially concerned about the virus spreading to other countries like Burundi or South Sudan.&quot; According to integrated epidemiological data, the total confirmed case numbers are 282 in the DRC and 9 in Uganda, with over 220 suspected cases under investigation. At least 42 confirmed deaths have been reported in the DRC and 1 in Uganda. IRC teams report that shortages of diagnostic cartridges and testing backlogs are slowing case confirmation, further obscuring the true spread of the outbreak. Seven confirmed Ebola patients have reportedly left treatment centers in the DRC. More than six healthcare workers have died, including two doctors, in recent days. People are avoiding health facilities, raising concerns that those affected are staying in their communities rather than seeking treatment. Without urgent funding, the situation could deteriorate rapidly. The outbreak is increasingly resembling the 2018-20 North Kivu Ebola crisis, which infected thousands of people and was complicated by insecurity, population movement, and community resistance. However, unlike in previous outbreaks, when the Ervebo vaccine was deployed, there is currently no approved vaccine for this Ebola strain. The IRC called for urgent international support to scale up contact tracing, surveillance, laboratory testing, treatment capacity, and community engagement efforts. In Uganda, the organization teamed up with the local health ministry on the border to support infection prevention and control activities, including screening people coming across the border.

Africa

The current outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo virus strain, for which no approved vaccine or specific therapeutics currently exist.

Congo Ebola outbreak likely far larger than official figures suggest: IRC

BUNIA: Locals at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo attacked the town hospital overnight, demanding the body of a religious leader who died from the virus, officials said on Monday.&nbsp;Mongbwalu, a large town in the unstable northeastern province of Ituri, is where the current outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic fever was first detected on May 15, since when it has killed more than 200 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.&nbsp;&quot;A group of young people attacked the hospital four times,&quot; a hospital official told AFP of the incident on Sunday night.&nbsp;&quot;They wanted to retrieve the body of a Catholic shepherd who had died of Ebola,&quot; the official said on condition of anonymity.&nbsp;He said the victim had been &quot;a well-known local figure, a religious leader from Mongbwalu&quot;, which is home to 130,000 people.&nbsp;Soldiers intervened to disperse the crowd with warning shots, he said.&nbsp;Ebola is a deadly viral disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.&nbsp;There is no vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the current Ebola outbreak, the 17th to plague the vast central African country of more than 100 million people.&nbsp;Attempts to tackle the spread are forced to rely mainly on precautions and rapid contact tracing.&nbsp;But in rural parts of the DRC, &quot;loved ones are throwing themselves at the bodies, touching the corpses and the clothes of the deceased, while organising mourning rituals bringing together loads of people&quot;, Jean Marie Ezadri, a civil society leader in Ituri, told AFP last week.&nbsp;&quot;This... explains the many instances of contamination.&quot;&nbsp;Distrust and incomprehensionPoorly served by roads and torn apart by violence, Ituri is one of the most troubled provinces in the DRC.&nbsp;Hastily arranged burials of Ebola victims have been met with suspicion in a region already distrustful of the state.&nbsp;An isolation tent near Mongbwalu hospital was torched on Friday night and the hospital official said his car had been stoned at the weekend.&nbsp;The tensions were &quot;hampering (Ebola) response efforts&quot;, he said.&nbsp;Another hospital worker confirmed the incidents.&nbsp;Mongbwalu medical centre is not the first in Ituri to have been attacked.&nbsp;Tents used to isolate Ebola patients at the hospital in Rwampara, Ituri, were burned down on Thursday after the family of a deceased man was prevented from taking his body for burial because of the dangers of contamination.&nbsp;Tonnes of medical supplies have been sent to Ituri, where teams from the World Health Organization are on the ground.&nbsp;But the response has been slow to get off the ground in a province where state services have been largely absent from rural areas for decades.&nbsp;One million of the province&#39;s estimated eight million inhabitants have been displaced by years of conflict and live cheek-by-jowl in cramped camps.&nbsp;The WHO has issued an international health alert.

At least 200 people have died in a Bundibugyo strain Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with angry residents attacking hospitals over burial disputes. Officials say distrust, violence, and unsafe mourning rituals are hampering efforts to contain the virus.

Locals at epicenter of DR Congo Ebola outbreak storm hospital

GENEVA: The public health risk from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been upgraded from high to very high, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The risk level remains high at the regional level and low worldwide, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference. He said there were now nearly 750 suspected cases in the DR Congo and 177 suspected deaths. &quot;The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly,&quot; Tedros said. &quot;We are now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level. &quot;So far, 82 cases have been confirmed in DRC, with seven confirmed deaths. &quot;But we know the epidemic in DRC is much larger. There are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths. &quot;The situation in Uganda is stable, with two cases confirmed in people who travelled from DRC, with one death.&quot; Tedros said that violence and insecurity was impeding the response to the outbreak.

The public health risk from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been upgraded from high to very high by the World Health Organization.

Ebola risk upgraded to 'very high' in DR Congo: WHO chief

ADDIS ABABA: A deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, African health authorities said Friday. Some 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have been reported and &quot;four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases,&quot; the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) said in a statement on social media. &quot;Ebola Virus Disease outbreak confirmed in Ituri Province,&quot; the pan-African health agency said. &quot;Africa CDC is closely monitoring the situation and convening an urgent high-level coordination meeting today with the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and global partners to reinforce cross-border surveillance, preparedness and outbreak response efforts,&quot; it said. First identified in 1976 and thought to have crossed over from bats, Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, causing severe bleeding and organ failure. The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has killed some 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest Ebola outbreak in the DRC, between 2018 and 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people.

Medical workers lead a young girl with suspected Ebola into the unconfirmed Ebola patients ward run by The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) on August 12, 2018 in Beni, northeastern DRC.

African health authorities confirmed a deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with 246 suspected cases and 65 reported deaths so far.

Deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo: Health agency

KINSHASSA: Delirious football fans took to the soaked streets of the capital, Kinshasa and danced into the night in the rain after the Democratic Republic of Congo reached the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. Defender Axel Tuanzebe, who plays in the Premier League for Burnley, was the hero with the only goal in a 1-0 win over Jamaica after extra time in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico on Tuesday. The central African nation will face Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan in Group K at the finals in North America this summer. At the 1974 finals in West Germany, the team competed as Zaire and were beaten by Scotland, Yugoslavia and Brazil. &quot;We gave it our all, right here in the rain!&quot; shouted Beni Ile, a fan in Kinshasa whose shoulders were draped in a soaked DRC flag. &quot;We won&#39;t be working on Wednesday! It&#39;s going to be a national holiday. We&#39;re going to celebrate and party all night long. &quot;We&#39;ve been waiting 50 years for this. We&#39;re staying out until dawn.&quot; It was a scene replicated across the city of 17 million people, where the final whistle in Guadalajara was greeted by a cacophony of banging pots, car horns and whistles. The win completed a dramatic qualification campaign for the team nicknamed the Leopards, who eliminated African football giants Nigeria and Cameroon on their way to Tuesday&#39;s playoff. As early as the morning of the big match, many residents of the DRC capital were already sporting the sky-blue jersey of their beloved national side. By evening, several hundred fans had gathered in a square in the city centre in anticipation of watching the game. Even as the rain bucketed down, the conclusion of the match after 120 nervy minutes was met with an outpouring of national pride and relief. It was also a rare moment of national unity in a country scarred by 30 years of conflict and the resurgence of the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group. &quot;It&#39;s truly exceptional, we are very proud of the Leopards today for this feat,&quot; said Merou, who comes from Goma, a major city in eastern DRC that fell into M23 hands in January 2025. &quot;This victory will unify the Congo. &quot;We hope the whole country will benefit from it,&quot; he added, standing in the pouring rain. Another overjoyed supporter, Maclain, said: &quot;We deserve a moment of happiness, away from the gunfire. &quot;We need to come together too.&quot;

Richard King of Jamaica is challenged by Axel Tuanzebe of Congo DR during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off tournament final match between Congo DR v Jamaica at Estadio Guadalajara on March 31, 2026, in Zapopan, Mexico. (Photo: AFP)

Football

The central African nation will face Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan in Group K at the finals in North America this summer.

DR Congo fans dance in the rain after sealing World Cup spot

LONDON: Britain has imposed visa restrictions on DR Congo nationals over the country&#39;s &quot;poor co-operation&quot; on returning illegal migrants, the UK government said.&nbsp;Further measures, up to a complete halt on visas, will follow unless cooperation &quot;rapidly improves&quot;, the interior ministry said in a statement late Saturday.&nbsp;The curbs mean that DR Congo VIPs and decision makers will lose preferential treatment on visas, while fast-track visa processing has been revoked for all DR Congo nationals.&nbsp;They come after Britain&#39;s Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, in November threatened DR Congo, Angola and Namibia with visa bans unless they accepted the return of irregular migrants.&nbsp;The interior ministry said the three African countries had &quot;continually frustrated&quot; efforts to remove thousands of illegal migrants and criminals.&nbsp;It said they had &quot;unacceptably poor and obstructive returns processes&quot; and accused the countries of refusing to process paperwork and requiring individuals to sign their own documents &ndash; effectively allowing them to block their own deportations.&nbsp;Angola and Namibia had, however, agreed &quot;to improve their processes&quot; and accept the return of &quot;illegal migrants and criminals&quot;, and so will not face such restrictions, the interior ministry said.&nbsp;There had been some recent engagement by the DR Congo, but Mahmood warned the Central African nation needed &quot;to play by the rules&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;If one of their citizens has no right to be here, they must take them back,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&quot;I thank Angola and Namibia and welcome their co-operation. Now is the time for the Democratic Republic of Congo to do the right thing. Take your citizens back or lose the privilege of entering our country.&quot;&nbsp;These visa measures came as part of a package of reforms Mahmood announced in November seeking to tighten up Britain&#39;s asylum rules.&nbsp;Immigration has become a bitterly divisive issue in Britain in recent years, fuelling support for the hard-right Reform UK party, which is currently well in front in opinion polls ahead of next May&#39;s local elections.

United Kingdom

Britain has imposed visa restrictions on DR Congo nationals over poor cooperation on returning illegal migrants, while Angola and Namibia avoided sanctions. The UK warned DR Congo to comply or face further measures amid tightened asylum rules.

Articles tagged with "DR Congo"