The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has passed 11,000 cases, making it the deadliest in the country’s history. Government figures released on November 11 put the toll at 11,042 cases and 5,387 deaths. Nearly half of the people infected have died.
Speaking to member states the same day, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned against reading too much into signs of slowing in some areas. “We cannot mistake progress in some places for control of the outbreak as a whole,” he said.
A fast-moving outbreak
This is Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak since the disease was first identified there in 1976, and it is the fastest-growing. It was declared in May 2026 and crossed 1,000 confirmed cases within 40 days of the response being activated. The 2018 outbreak took about 235 days to reach that mark.
The main hotspots are Ituri province, the epicentre, and North Kivu, both in the country’s east. The WHO says cases have now been reported across eight provinces. Almost 3,000 people have recovered.
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, one of the less common species of Ebola. That matters because the approved Ebola vaccines and treatments were developed for a different species, the Zaire virus.
Cases outside Congo
The virus has crossed borders, though in small numbers so far.
- Kenya recorded nine cases linked to one case imported from Congo, including two deaths. The last patient was discharged on November 11, which starts a 42-day countdown before Kenya can be declared free of Ebola.
- Nigeria recorded one imported case, a Swiss citizen who was later evacuated to Switzerland.
Vaccines are being tested
There is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain yet. A trial using the existing Ervebo vaccine began last month, and WHO expert groups have recommended adding two candidate vaccines developed specifically for Bundibugyo. One is from the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and one is from Moderna. Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research is leading the trial with WHO and international partners.
The WHO has been clear that vaccines are only one part of the answer. Tedros said earlier this month that they “are not substitutes” for proven measures such as early care, contact tracing, isolation and safe burials.
Violence is slowing the response
Eastern Congo has been unstable for decades, and armed groups have become more active in Ituri and North Kivu again. “Insecurity is now one of the greatest obstacles to the response,” Tedros said. He reported that three health workers were killed in an attack on Cantine-Aloya, and a nurse was killed and another injured in Tshopo province.
Other problems add to the strain: poor roads, unpaid salaries and strikes by health workers, and mistrust in some communities. Rumours, refusal of screening and resistance to safe burial practices have all been reported, and some medical teams and facilities have been attacked.
How it compares
The West Africa epidemic of 2014 to 2016 remains the largest Ebola outbreak on record, with about 28,000 infections and more than 11,000 deaths. The current Congo outbreak is now the second largest and second deadliest ever recorded.
What travellers should know
In its latest update, the WHO listed cases only in Congo, Kenya and Nigeria. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person, not through the air like flu. Travellers returning from affected parts of Central and East Africa who develop fever, weakness, vomiting or bleeding within 21 days should seek medical care at once and mention their travel history.
For now, the focus is on Congo itself. Without better security and steady funding for health workers, the WHO fears new hotspots will keep emerging even as other areas improve.
Reporting based on the World Health Organization and Euronews.
Featured image: CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
