It took just five months after the end of the previous outbreak for the Democratic Republic of Congo to face a new Ebola epidemic, the 17th recorded in the country. Reported on May 14th, 2026 in Ituri province in the country’s northeast, it quickly became one of the most severe health crises the region has faced in years.
The first obstacle facing health authorities had to do with the very nature of the virus involved. Initial samples tested negative, since the tests used only detected Zaire ebolavirus, the most common strain. It was only after deploying appropriate tests that the first positive cases were confirmed on May 14th, 2026, revealing the presence of Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a species far less known and documented. This delay in detection allowed the virus to circulate silently within communities for weeks, if not months, before official confirmation.
The very next day, May 15th, Congolese authorities publicly confirmed hundreds of cases in the province, a figure that immediately alarmed public health experts given its unusual scale so early in the outbreak.
The situation then deteriorated at a steady pace. As early as May 16th, the World Health Organization announced eight laboratory confirmed cases in Ituri and two cases in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The following day, a positive case was detected in Goma, a city in North Kivu currently under the control of the March 23 Movement, an area where the presence of armed groups considerably complicates access for health teams.
The outbreak also crossed the continent’s borders. A man returning from the DRC developed symptoms during his flight back to France, becoming the very first Ebola case ever diagnosed on French soil. Placed in isolation, he fortunately had a low viral load and was declared recovered in early July. Five passengers on the same flight, considered contact cases, were monitored at home for 21 days, the virus’s incubation period.
The numbers behind this crisis illustrate the scale it has reached. As of June 16th, 2026, the World Health Organization recorded more than 827 confirmed cases and 194 deaths. Barely a month later, by July 15th, that toll had more than doubled, with over 2,100 confirmed cases and more than 800 deaths, making this outbreak the third largest ever recorded in the disease’s history. Doctors Without Borders has, in fact, criticized the official figures as likely falling well short of the reality on the ground, a concern also echoed by several international media outlets.
According to the most recent data, the crisis remains geographically concentrated in northeastern DRC, with more than 97 percent of all recorded cases spread across the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. Only 19 cases have been reported in neighboring Uganda, mainly linked to people who had traveled from affected areas of the DRC.
Faced with this surge, Congolese authorities have begun building specialized treatment centers and isolation units near the main epicenters of the outbreak. The country now has 500 beds available for Ebola patients, and surveillance teams are able to carry out more than 2,000 tests per day. Uganda’s public health system has also mobilized, actively supporting surveillance, screening and case management, both within its own territory and across the Congolese border.
These efforts nonetheless face considerable obstacles. The absence of a proven vaccine and approved specific treatment against the Bundibugyo strain deprives medical teams of essential tools they had access to during previous outbreaks caused by other strains of the virus. The remoteness of the affected region and persistent insecurity, fueled by dozens of armed groups operating in the area, further complicate access for health teams trying to reach the most vulnerable populations.
Faced with this unprecedented surge, Doctors Without Borders is calling for an urgent strengthening of the international medical response, denouncing what it considers still insufficient resources to genuinely curb the virus’s transmission in a region already weakened by years of conflict.