{"id":50921,"date":"2026-07-08T13:57:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=50921"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:57:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:12:26","slug":"dr-congo-ebola-confirmed-caseload-tops-1700-as-who-says-outbreak-still-intensifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/dr-congo-ebola-confirmed-caseload-tops-1700-as-who-says-outbreak-still-intensifying\/","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo Ebola confirmed caseload tops 1,700 as WHO says outbreak still intensifying"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported more than 1,700 confirmed Ebola cases as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of the intensifying outbreak in the country’s conflict-hit east, with the true scale of transmission still unclear and treatment facilities under mounting pressure.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, the DRC had reported 1,708 confirmed cases, including 580 deaths, said authorities late Tuesday.<\/p>\n

According to a WHO Regional Office for Africa report released Tuesday, the outbreak in the DRC “continues to intensify,” driven by sustained transmission in hotspot health zones of Ituri and North Kivu provinces, growing numbers of community deaths and the spread of infection into previously unaffected health zones.<\/p>\n

The public health risk in the DRC remains “very high,” the WHO said, warning that sustained and widespread transmission continued to outpace the current response capacity.
\n“The true scale has not yet been fully established,” Anne Ancia, WHO’s representative to the DRC, told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, epicenter of the outbreak.
\n“We would like to say it is stabilizing, but frankly, we cannot say it yet,” she said.<\/p>\n

HIDDEN CHAINS OF TRANSMISSION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The WHO report said deaths before admission to treatment facilities remain a major concern in the country, suggesting delays in case detection, referral and isolation.
\nAmong 430 confirmed deaths investigated as of Sunday, 397, or 92.3 percent, occurred in the community or before admission to a treatment facility, according to the report.
\nFor health workers, community deaths are a critical warning sign, which suggests that surveillance, referral and isolation systems are still lagging behind the virus, allowing transmission to continue before patients reach care, it said.
\nContact tracing has improved but remains insufficient to quickly interrupt transmission. As of Monday, 12,412 contacts were under follow-up in the DRC.
\nHowever, only 32.4 percent of confirmed cases had been detected through contact follow-up, indicating many infections outside known contact lists and “ongoing gaps in surveillance.”<\/p>\n

In support of the government-led response, WHO teams are working to reconstruct the history of each infection “so that we can really understand the chain of transmission” and isolate every contact case, Ancia said.<\/p>\n

The outbreak, declared on May 15, is unfolding in areas already marked by armed conflicts, mass displacement and overstretched health services. It has mainly affected Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in eastern DRC.<\/p>\n

Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said compared with previous Ebola outbreaks in Africa at the same stage, the current outbreak ranked first in terms of the number of cases and deaths.<\/p>\n

HEALTH CARE NEARING SATURATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The surge in cases is placing growing pressure on Ebola treatment and isolation facilities.<\/p>\n

The DRC has about 700 treatment and isolation beds across more than 22 Ebola treatment centers and care facilities. As of Sunday, 646 patients were in isolation nationwide, with official isolation occupancy standing at about 94.2 percent, according to the WHO report.<\/p>\n

Ancia said that treatment centers were “at saturation point” and that not all needs in Ituri province could currently be met.<\/p>\n

Still, WHO officials pointed to some gains in the response. Testing capacity has risen sharply from about 30 tests per day in Kinshasa to more than 2,000 per day, thanks to 10 decentralized laboratories established in affected provinces, including the latest one opened in Bunia, Ancia said.<\/p>\n

The response is also complicated by the wider humanitarian emergency in eastern DRC, where insecurity, displacement, poor water access and weak health infrastructure have increased vulnerability to diseases.<\/p>\n

Kaseya said the Ebola response could not be separated from the broader humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC.<\/p>\n

He said that Africa CDC and partners had expanded their funding appeal from an initial request focused on Ebola response to a wider package covering health and humanitarian needs, and that addressing displacement, sanitation and insecurity would help contain multiple crises at once.<\/p>\n

“If we resolve these humanitarian aspects, we will defeat not only Ebola, but also measles and cholera, and also fight insecurity and give opportunities to young people,” Kaseya said.<\/p>\n

SEARCH FOR TREATMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment, unlike the better-known Zaire species.
\nThe WHO-sponsored PARTNERS clinical trial was officially launched in the DRC on Thursday, becoming the first clinical trial specifically evaluating therapeutics for the disease caused by the Bundibugyo species.
\nThe trial is assessing the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral remdesivir, individually and in combination.
\n“These drugs will be administered alone or in combination to assess their potential to improve survival among people with the Bundibugyo virus disease,” Ancia said, adding that more than 1,200 treatment doses were available, and that additional therapies could be incorporated as new evidence emerges.<\/p>\n

Kaseya said clinical trials had come “very late,” nearly two decades after the Bundibugyo species was first identified. He said Africa CDC was pushing to ensure that vaccines and treatment options could be available “before the end of the year.”<\/p>\n

A MIXED REGIONAL PICTURE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Uganda has reported no new Ebola cases during the past two weeks. As of Sunday, the country had recorded 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths. Sixteen patients had recovered and two remained hospitalized. All contacts under follow-up in Uganda had completed the required 21-day monitoring period without new linked cases being detected, the WHO reported.<\/p>\n

In France, the imported laboratory-confirmed case reported to WHO on June 24 had recovered and was discharged from hospital on Saturday after two consecutive negative laboratory tests. Five passengers who had traveled on the same flight as the patient were quarantined and remained asymptomatic.<\/p>\n

The WHO said Uganda still faced a high risk of importation due to population movement from eastern DRC, while the imported case in France underscored the need for sustained surveillance, traveler awareness and cross-border preparedness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported more than 1,700 confirmed Ebola cases as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of the intensifying outbreak in the country’s conflict-hit east, with the true scale of transmission still unclear and treatment facilities under mounting pressure. As of Monday, the DRC had reported 1,708 confirmed cases, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50922,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50921\/revisions\/50922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}