Ebola spreads to sixth DR Congo province, raising South Sudan fears

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a sixth province, Bas-Uele, following a death there, intensifying fears of its spread into neighboring South Sudan. This marks the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC since the first was declared on May 15.

The current outbreak is rapidly becoming the deadliest in the nation's history, with over 2,128 deaths recorded from 4,566 confirmed cases. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) noted that three months into the outbreak, the DRC has recorded seven times more cases and five times more deaths than the first three months of the 2014 West Africa epidemic.

Mercy Corps NGO highlighted the immediate risk to South Sudan, stating that confirmed cases are now only 35 kilometers from the border along high-risk travel routes. The effectiveness of response efforts is significantly hampered by stretched health services, inadequate water and sanitation facilities, fragile public trust, and ongoing insecurity in some affected provinces.

Compounding the challenges, some of the affected provinces are densely populated and suffer from weak government presence and underdeveloped health infrastructure. In North Kivu and South Kivu, the conflict between the Congolese army and the M23 armed group, reportedly backed by Rwanda, has further complicated containment efforts.

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Confirmed cases now sit just 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the South Sudan border, along high-risk travel corridors.