Ebola in DRC: ‘The evolution of this epidemic has exceeded our gravest expectations’

Over the past 24 hours, 101 new confirmed cases and 33 community deaths attributed to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) were reported in the provinces of Ituri (89 cases), North Kivu (8 cases), Haut-Uélé (3), and Tshopo (1), according to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ministry of Health (MOH).

Ituri accounts for approximately two-thirds of the new cases.

In addition, 20 confirmed deaths within Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs) were recorded—17 in Ituri and 3 in North Kivu—bringing the total number of deaths over the past 24 hours to 53.

From the start of the epidemic through August 15, 2026, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded a cumulative total of 4,945 confirmed cases, including 2,325 deaths, representing a case fatality rate of 47.0%.

Ituri remains the epicenter of the epidemic, accounting for 84.8% of cumulative confirmed cases.

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Overall, 55 of the 151 health zones across the six provinces have been affected since the start of the epidemic in the DRC.

Three months after the declaration of the Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the DRC, the evolution of this epidemic has exceeded our gravest expectations, according to the Africa CDC.

While Uganda has been commended for successfully ending its outbreak on 28 July 2026 and the achievement that demonstrates that Bundibugyo Ebola can be contained when proven public health measures are implemented rapidly, comprehensively and with communities at the Centre, Africa CDC observes with deep concern the continued deterioration of the situation in DRC, where insecurity, displacement, humanitarian pressures, disruptions to essential health services, delayed detection and persistent gaps in community trust continue to sustain transmission.

This outbreak has demonstrated an extraordinary speed of transmission, a devastating capacity to take lives and an unprecedented geographic expansion. The DRC has confronted Ebola 17 times, yet never before has the country experienced an Ebola outbreak expanding at this speed and on this scale.

In only twelve weeks, the current outbreak has already surpassed both the total number of cases and deaths recorded during the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC, which lasted almost two years.

The current outbreak is already the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the history of the DRC, the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. With a case fatality ratio approaching 50%, it is now taking approximately one life every 30 minutes. Unless its trajectory is urgently reversed, it risks becoming the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded globally.