DRC Ebola deaths top 900 as WHO warns outbreak is outpacing response

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A physician at the Ebola Treatment Center of Rwampara General Hospital, in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the DR Congo on July 13, 2026. [AFP]

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 900 lives, with health authorities reporting continued transmission across five provinces as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that the epidemic is spreading faster than response efforts can contain it.

According to the DRC Ministry of Health, the country has recorded 2,344 confirmed Ebola cases, including 930 deaths, 466 recoveries, and 724 patients currently in isolation or receiving treatment. The outbreak's case fatality rate stands at 39.7 per cent, while 85.8 per cent of identified contacts are being successfully traced.

Health authorities said response teams remain fully deployed in the five affected provinces of Ituri, Haut-Uélé, Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Tshopo, where surveillance, case management and contact tracing are continuing to curb transmission.