KINSHASA – The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has doubled in just over two weeks, reaching 754 fatalities amid what the World Health Organization (WHO) has described as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak it has ever managed.
Confirmed cases have now surpassed 2,000, with the National Institute of Public Health reporting 2,011 infections as of July 14. The outbreak has spread to five provinces—Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo with Ituri province remaining the epicentre, accounting for approximately 90 per cent of all confirmed cases.
‘A Fire’ That Cannot Be Contained
“We have seen the fastest growth in a single month since the outbreak started and of all the Ebola outbreaks that we have managed,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. Describing the crisis in stark terms, he added: “You have to imagine that this is a fire”.
The WHO has warned that the true scale of the epidemic could be “at least two to four times” larger than official figures suggest. According to Ihekweazu, approximately 80 per cent of new infections are occurring outside health officials’ contact lists, meaning many cases are going undetected.
“Perhaps the most alarming finding is that many newly reported cases are individuals who died in their communities, without ever reaching a health facility and receiving care,” Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva.
Unprecedented Speed
In just two months since the outbreak was officially declared, it has become the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record—and the fastest growing. Medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that in less than five weeks, confirmed cases tripled from 650 to nearly 2,000, while deaths increased more than fivefold from 130 to over 700.
The epidemic has already exceeded half the number of cases recorded during the DRC’s 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak, which lasted nearly two years.
Treatment Centres Overwhelmed
The response effort is buckling under the strain. Isolation facilities in North Kivu province are operating at more than 120 per cent occupancy, while safe-burial activities in Rwampara—where more than 400 confirmed cases have been reported—have been disrupted because burial teams have not been paid.
In Bunia, the provincial capital at the centre of the outbreak, the 90-bed Elikiya Ebola Treatment Centre “is almost always operating at full capacity,” said Sylvie Kaczmarczyk, MSF emergency coordinator in the city.
“People regularly tell us they prefer to wait at home and come only when a bed becomes available,” Kaczmarczyk said. “As a result, we continue to receive patients who arrive late and are already critically ill”.
More than 240 people have fled Ebola treatment or isolation facilities during the outbreak, including 100 in the past month alone, highlighting the profound difficulties health authorities face in persuading patients to remain under care.
A New Strain, No Approved Vaccine
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment. The first clinical trial of an antiviral drug began on Tuesday, the WHO said.
The crude case-fatality rate has risen to 37 per cent from 32 per cent a week earlier—a pattern the WHO says reflects persistent delays in diagnosis, isolation and access to care rather than increased disease severity. The agency’s analysis of 430 confirmed deaths found that 92 per cent occurred before patients reached treatment facilities.
Risk of Regional Spread
The International Rescue Committee has warned that the outbreak is worsening on two fronts: transmission is accelerating in existing hotspots while simultaneously spreading into new areas, raising the risk of cross-border transmission into South Sudan. Cases have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda.
“We must find the cases earlier, bring them into care as soon as possible so that we reduce transmission in the community,” Ihekweazu said. “The more cases stay in the community, the more they transmit, the more we stay behind the curve”.
MSF has called for an urgent scale-up of the international response. “Every delay costs lives. We are still chasing the outbreak instead of staying ahead of it,” said Trish Newport, MSF emergency programme manager.
“We need stronger, more coordinated international action to move faster and improve access to both Ebola care and other essential health services”.
By the numbers (as of July 15):
- Confirmed cases: 2,011
- Deaths: 754
- Recoveries: 366
- People in isolation: 753
- Affected provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo
- Epicentre: Ituri Province
