The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, after cross-border spread was documented and two confirmed cases were reported in Kampala on 15 and 16 May. The agency said the event does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency.
Both confirmed patients in Kampala were admitted to intensive care units, underscoring how quickly the virus has moved beyond one national border. The WHO said its director-general will convene an Emergency Committee as soon as possible, and that international coordination and cooperation are now required to contain the outbreak.
The timing matters because the risk is no longer confined to one location. On 17 May 2026, the WHO updated its statement to note that a laboratory confirmed case had also been reported in Kinshasa on 16 May, a day after the Kampala cases were reported. The agency said that neighboring countries sharing land borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo are at high risk of further spread because of population mobility, trade and travel linkages, and ongoing epidemiological uncertainty.
That combination leaves health authorities with a fast-moving situation and limited room for error. The WHO has already concluded that the outbreak requires a coordinated international response, but it also drew a line by saying the event does not rise to a pandemic emergency under its rules. That distinction matters because it shapes how the world responds, what kind of coordination is triggered, and how urgently countries along the Congo border prepare for more cases.
For now, the clearest next step is the Emergency Committee the director-general said he will convene. Its advice will help determine temporary recommendations as the outbreak spreads across a region where travel, trade, and daily movement can carry infection quickly from one district to the next. For the patients already in intensive care in Kampala, and for health systems in bordering countries, the next decisions may arrive before the virus stops moving.
