He Ebola outbreak declared in mid-May in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is of extreme severity when exceeding the 6,800 cases and 3,300 deathsas the authorities have recently confirmed. The situation facing the country is worrying to the point that the spread of the disease may totally exceed the response capabilities, supported by the national community.
He National Institute of Public Health (INSP) has indicated in its latest bulletin that to date there have been detected 6,843 infections and 3,310 deathsincluding 86 cases and 43 deaths during the last 24 hours, especially in the Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Likewise, he has stated that to date 1,611 patients have recovered of the disease, while 833 remain hospitalized or in isolation. In this way, the case fatality rate is 48.4%while contact tracing amounts to 86.5% at the moment.
Ituri, epicenter of the outbreak
Ituri accumulates the 79.8% of cases registered in the six affected provinces: North Kivu, South Kivu, Alto Uélé, Bajo Uélé, Tshopo and Ituri itself, with 61 of the 151 health zones in these regions already impacted by the spread of the virus, according to INSP data.
For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the risk of spread within the country remains “very high” and “high” for neighboring countries with a land borderdue to sustained transmission, high mortality, population mobility, insecurity and logistical challenges. However, the risk globally and in the rest of Africa remains low.
The deadliest outbreak
He Current outbreak is deadliest in country’s historyexceeding that registered between 2018 and 2020, with projections suggesting that it could surpass that registered between 2014 and 2016 in West Africa, which left 28,616 cases and 11,325 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to WHO data.
DRC, which in December 2025 declared the end of another outbreak, is considered the country with the most experience in the world in managing the Ebola virushaving faced more than a dozen outbreaks since the virus was identified in 1976 in a double outbreak that had one of its epicenters in the Congolese town of Yambuku, on the banks of the Ebola River, from which the disease took its name.
