Ebola outbreak in the DRC becomes Africa’s deadliest, with more than 3,000 deaths

The words have become more serious. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, told correspondents at the Palace of Nations that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo "is the second largest ever recorded and the fastest-spreading."

Tedros confirmed figures released earlier by Congo’s National Institute of Public Health: more than 3,000 people have died and more than 6,000 infections have been recorded. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, is now the deadliest Ebola epidemic in Africa’s history. The strain remains highly lethal, with a case-fatality rate of 48.6%.

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The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the second largest ever recorded and the fastest-spreading.

The toll exceeds the previous worst Ebola epidemic in the DRC, which killed 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020. Over the past 50 years, more than 15,000 people have died from hemorrhagic fever in Africa. No specific vaccine exists for the strain currently spreading in the DRC.

Six provinces are affected, but Ituri remains the epicenter. "Eighty-five percent of infections and 88% of deaths have been identified there," Tedros said. Most of the deaths involve people whose contacts are unknown, making it harder to track and stop transmission chains in a region devastated by three decades of conflict and lacking access to primary healthcare.

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Eighty-five percent of infections and 88% of deaths have been identified there.