More than 8,700 Ebola cases and 4,200 deaths recorded in the DRC since May

More than 8,700 cases of Ebola fever have been recorded since May in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and more than 4,200 of those infected have died.

This was reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As noted in its bulletin, "as of October 6, 2026, the country has recorded 8,728 confirmed cases of the disease and 4,205 confirmed deaths," with a fatality rate of about 48.2%. In the time since the publication on September 25 of the previous issue of the WHO's Ebola bulletin, 775 new confirmed cases of the disease have been registered in the DRC, including 379 fatal ones.

Since September 25, the Ebola outbreak has spread to the Alimbongo area in North Kivu province, thereby expanding the "geographic scope of the epidemic." It has currently affected 64 areas in seven provinces in the east of the country. Ituri province has been especially hard hit.

The WHO stated that "intense transmission of the infection persists at the national level, although the burden is distributed unevenly." In some areas, "there are clear signs of the epidemic slowing down, while in others it continues to grow." The persistently high mortality, as well as the large number of deaths outside medical facilities, "continue to point to delays in detecting the disease and obtaining appropriate medical care."

The current Ebola outbreak began on May 15 in the DRC and Uganda. The Ugandan authorities announced on July 28 that the outbreak on the country's territory had ended. On August 25, the WHO confirmed this information. On October 6, the authorities of Kenya reported the first case of Ebola infection in the country. The infected person — a Kenyan citizen who had visited the DRC — died in a hospital.