Ebola Outbreak Expands to Seventh Province in DR Congo
By Editor • September 11, 2026 • 2 min read
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has now reached a seventh province, raising alarms among health officials. This development was confirmed by local authorities on Friday, with the acting governor of South-Ubangi Province, Jean-Rene Galekwa Vundawe, announcing the detection of the virus following laboratory tests.
According to Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the head of the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, a man has tested positive for the Bundibugyo variant of Ebola. This variant, which is responsible for the current outbreak, had previously affected six provinces in eastern and northeastern DRC. However, local transmission in South-Ubangi has yet to be confirmed, meaning the province has not officially joined the list of epidemic-affected areas.
The outbreak, which is the 17th recorded in DRC, has become the deadliest in the nation’s history, with reported cases soaring to 6,942 and deaths climbing to 3,349 as of the latest government figures. This far exceeds the toll from the 2018-2020 outbreak of the Zaire Ebola virus, which recorded 2,299 deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm, stating that the current outbreak remains uncontained and could soon surpass the catastrophic 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa.
Governor Galekwa’s statement detailed that the infected patient had displayed symptoms in Kisangani, Tshopo Province, after traveling through Rwanda and Uganda. The patient then made their way to South-Ubangi by boat on the Congo River, putting nearby populations at risk. In response, 38 individuals who had contact with the patient are now in quarantine as a precautionary measure.
While recent weeks have seen a decline in cases and deaths in Ituri Province, the outbreak’s epicenter, neighboring regions like North Kivu and Upper-Uele are witnessing a worrying increase in cases. The Bundibugyo variant currently lacks approved vaccines or treatments, and the region's weak health infrastructure, along with ongoing conflicts near DRC's borders, complicates the response efforts.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
