DR Congo Ebola Death Toll Hits 930 as 80% of New Cases Evade Contact Tracing
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Jul 20
DR Congo Ebola Death Toll Hits 930 as 80% of New Cases Evade Contact Tracing
3 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Jul 20
Summary
930 deaths and 2,365 cases had been recorded in DR Congo by Sunday, with 37 deaths in the previous 24 hours as the outbreak spread into five eastern provinces.
More than 80% of new infections were not on known contact lists, the WHO said, indicating major gaps in tracing and helping make the Bundibugyo outbreak one of the fastest-growing ever.
Africa CDC is preparing a trial in eastern Congo that would give frontline health workers Ervebo plus an experimental Sudan-strain vaccine, since Bundibugyo has no approved vaccine or treatment.
20 cases in Uganda and 1 in France have already been linked to the outbreak, while attacks on more than a dozen health facilities and distrust of outsiders continue to hamper containment.
Did years of funding cuts to health surveillance make this deadly Ebola outbreak an unavoidable crisis?
In a conflict zone with 120 armed groups, can an Ebola outbreak with no approved vaccine be contained?
Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak 2026: DRC Faces Deadly Surge Fueled by Conflict, Mistrust, and Underfunding
Overview
The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is driven by the Bundibugyo strain, which is the third largest and fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. This strain spreads through direct contact with blood or body fluids of infected people, or contaminated surfaces, but not through the air. People are not infectious until symptoms appear, but the risk of transmission increases as symptoms worsen. The outbreak is made worse by conflict, population displacement, and weak health systems, making containment difficult. These intersecting challenges have created a major threat to global health security and demand urgent, coordinated action.