WHO declares Ebola emergency in DR Congo

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 80 as authorities warned there was no vaccine for the strain in a crisis that the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency yesterday.

A total of 88 deaths and 336 suspected cases of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever have been reported, CDC Africa said in an update on Saturday.

The Geneva-based WHO said early yesterday the outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola constituted a “public health emergency of international concern” — the second-highest level of alert under international health regulations. It warned the true scale of the number of cases and spread was not clear but stopped short of declaring a pandemic emergency, the highest alert level introduced in 2024.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was preparing a “large-scale response”, calling the rapid spread of the outbreak “extremely concerning”, in warnings echoed by authorities.