DR Congo airport reopens in Ebola-hit area as suspected cases drop

Bunia (DR Congo) (AFP) – The sole airport providing humanitarian organisations access to the epicentre of an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo reopened on Tuesday, when the reported number of suspected cases declined.

Issued on: 02/06/2026 - 16:26

The country of 100 million people declared on May 15 that it was battling a major epidemic of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever, prompting the World Health Organization to issue an international health alert.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who spoke to Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday, travelled to the epicentre of the outbreak on Saturday.

Out of 321 confirmed cases of infection, 48 deaths have been recorded, according to Congolese health authorities and the WHO.