'We are here to help': WHO chief visits epicentre of Ebola outbreak in DR Congo
UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday visited Bunia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - where a severe Ebola outbreak has been declared.
Issued on: 30/05/2026 - RFI
The World Health Organization's director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but "at the same time community ownership is important".
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that was the reason for his trip: "We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help."
He is expected to inaugurate a large Ebola treatment center in Bunia in the form of a permanent building rather than simple tents.
Ghebreyesus was in the capital Kinshasa on Thursday to meet with local health officials who, according to him, "really need support.
He held several meetings, including with Prime Minister Judith Suminwa on Friday and is due to meet President Félix Tshisekedi on Monday.
WHO chief says Ebola 'can be stopped' as he lands in DR Congo
The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.
There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
The true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to have been circulating before it was detected, is likely to be much wider, the WHO has warned.
UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday visited Bunia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - where a severe Ebola outbreak has been declared.
Issued on: 30/05/2026 - RFI
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrives in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an Ebola outbreak has been declared, 30 May 2026. AFP - GLODY MURHABAZI
The World Health Organization's director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but "at the same time community ownership is important".
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that was the reason for his trip: "We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help."
He is expected to inaugurate a large Ebola treatment center in Bunia in the form of a permanent building rather than simple tents.
Ghebreyesus was in the capital Kinshasa on Thursday to meet with local health officials who, according to him, "really need support.
He held several meetings, including with Prime Minister Judith Suminwa on Friday and is due to meet President Félix Tshisekedi on Monday.
WHO chief says Ebola 'can be stopped' as he lands in DR Congo
The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.
There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
The true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to have been circulating before it was detected, is likely to be much wider, the WHO has warned.
Red Cross workers disinfect a hospital in Rwampara, Ituri province, on 21 May 2026, as part of efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in DRC. © REUTERS - Gradel Muyisa Mumbere
The vast, unstable central African country – whose impoverished east has been plagued by three decades of conflict – has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.
Uganda closed its border with the DRC this week and ordered a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from that country.
On Friday, the WHO announced that a patient had recovered on Wednesday, left hospital and was discharged into the community after two negative tests.
United States to fund Ebola clinics as aid cuts blamed for spread of virus
WHO's Anaïs Legand told reporters in Geneva it marked the "first" among patients who had been confirmed Ebola carriers in the current outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo strain.
Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement of the latest outbreak that "never has an Ebola epidemic recorded so many cases in the first days after it being declared".
Lack of medical personnel
It said the numbers of medical experts being deployed to the region was still insufficient.
State services are largely lacking in Ituri province, where access is hindered by insecurity due to the presence of Islamic State-affiliated ADF militants and other militias that regularly kill civilians.
The nearby North and South Kivu provinces, that have also seen Ebola cases in the outbreak, have been plagued by near continuous violence for three decades.
Swathes of the regions are controlled by the Rwanda-backed armed group M23 which has been battling government forces.
UN welcomes progress on talks between DR Congo, M23 armed group
Millions of people have fled the fighting and are living in displacement camps with poor hygiene conditions.
Nearly a million of those displaced are in Ituri province, where the prospect of the epidemic spreading throughout the camps has sparked alarm.
"If Ebola comes, we'll be wiped out as we're packed like sardines," Dorcas Mapenzi said at the Kingonze camp on the outskirts of Bunia.
No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the current outbreak.
But the head of the CDC Africa said on Thursday that a vaccine should be ready by the end of the year.
(with AFP)
The vast, unstable central African country – whose impoverished east has been plagued by three decades of conflict – has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.
Uganda closed its border with the DRC this week and ordered a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from that country.
On Friday, the WHO announced that a patient had recovered on Wednesday, left hospital and was discharged into the community after two negative tests.
United States to fund Ebola clinics as aid cuts blamed for spread of virus
WHO's Anaïs Legand told reporters in Geneva it marked the "first" among patients who had been confirmed Ebola carriers in the current outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo strain.
Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement of the latest outbreak that "never has an Ebola epidemic recorded so many cases in the first days after it being declared".
Lack of medical personnel
It said the numbers of medical experts being deployed to the region was still insufficient.
State services are largely lacking in Ituri province, where access is hindered by insecurity due to the presence of Islamic State-affiliated ADF militants and other militias that regularly kill civilians.
The nearby North and South Kivu provinces, that have also seen Ebola cases in the outbreak, have been plagued by near continuous violence for three decades.
Swathes of the regions are controlled by the Rwanda-backed armed group M23 which has been battling government forces.
UN welcomes progress on talks between DR Congo, M23 armed group
Millions of people have fled the fighting and are living in displacement camps with poor hygiene conditions.
Nearly a million of those displaced are in Ituri province, where the prospect of the epidemic spreading throughout the camps has sparked alarm.
"If Ebola comes, we'll be wiped out as we're packed like sardines," Dorcas Mapenzi said at the Kingonze camp on the outskirts of Bunia.
No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the current outbreak.
But the head of the CDC Africa said on Thursday that a vaccine should be ready by the end of the year.
(with AFP)
May 30, 2026
By UN News
Two weeks into the latest deadly Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are now 906 suspected cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including 223 suspected deaths.
Early detection and community mobilisation remain critical to saving lives, as potential treatments and vaccines are being still being assessed, the UN health agency said on Friday.
Since 15 May, UN agencies have been supporting both the DRC and neighbouring Uganda to contain the outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which spreads through close contact.
“It’s a disease that you get when you care for someone, for your husband or your partner or your child or your mother,” Anaïs Legand, a WHO Technical Officer told reporters in Geneva.
“You get it when you want to help someone with symptoms, and this is terrible,” she said, explaining that families and friends must be instructed not to touch loved ones who are falling sick.
30 to 50 per cent chance of death
Ms. Legand highlighted the critical importance of prevention and early access to care, in the face of this particularly deadly disease. Based on previous outbreaks the lethality “ranges between 30 and 50 per cent,” she said – “it’s huge.”
While “five out of 10 people are likely to die,” more can be done to promote recovery, according to the WHO expert.
“We can scale up optimized intensive care,” she said. “We can support the communities to recognize the symptoms early to get early diagnostics, so that they can receive the level of care they need.”
Experience shows that Ebola flare-ups can only be controlled when communities are “fully involved” in the response, Ms. Legrand insisted — highlighting a recent case in the DRC where a patient fully recovered and was discharged from the hospital.
Detective work
WHO has gathered experts to review potential treatments and vaccines against the virus, with several products now identified for further assessment.
For confirmed cases, three candidate therapeutics for treatment have been prioritised for clinical trials, Ms. Legand revealed: the monoclonal antibodies MBP 134 and maftivimab, and the antiviral remdesivir.
For prevention, the oral antiviral obeldesivir is being prioritised within a clinical study as a post-exposure measure for those who have been in contact with confirmed cases.
The WHO expert added that two candidate vaccines have been identified for evaluation once doses become available.
The agency is working closely with the governments of DRC and Uganda while at the same time “urgently scaling up care capacities.”
Access issue
“This outbreak is happening in a very complex context,” she stressed, recalling that in the affected Ituri province alone, 1.2 million people require humanitarian assistance, while ongoing conflict and food insecurity are hampering the response.
“The issue that we have in the field is not necessarily an issue of resources,” Ms. Legand insisted. “It’s an issue of access.”
The airport in Ituri province’s capital Bunia has been closed, and while the DRC Government has allowed humanitarian flights to proceed, operational constraints remain. “One day I got a call from my team telling me there is no fuel,” the WHO expert said.
Tedros on the ground
The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in DRC on Friday, telling reporters in the capital Kinshasa that he was there to show the community is “not alone”.
He appealed to the multiple armed groups who act with impunity in the war-ravaged eastern region to declare a ceasefire so that health workers can reach people in need and halt spread of the disease.
The DRC notified WHO of an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus disease on 15 May and as of Thursday, 125 confirmed cases have been reported, including 17 deaths across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.
In addition, 906 suspected cases including over 223 deaths are under investigation and are being reviewed as testing capacity improves.
In Uganda, as of Thursday there were seven confirmed cases, including one death. WHO said that there is no evidence of community transmission in the country at this stage.
No travel restrictions, for now
While indicating that people from the affected areas who may have been exposed to Ebola should not travel, the UN health agency does not recommend any restriction on travel or trade with the DRC or Uganda based on the current information.
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