The World Health Organization said Thursday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is killing between 30% and 50% of patients, as its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Kinshasa to back the containment effort.
That estimate puts the disease among the deadliest outbreaks in the country in years. The WHO has recorded 10 confirmed deaths and 223 suspected deaths since the outbreak was declared on May 15, out of more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases. One patient recovered and was discharged from a health centre on May 27 after two negative tests, the first confirmed recovery in the outbreak.
Tedros was due to travel on Friday to north-east Ituri province, the centre of the outbreak, though the trip was pushed back by a day. He made a direct appeal to all warring parties in the region to declare a ceasefire, saying no cause or grievance was worth condemning innocent people to death from a preventable disease.
The WHO said the outbreak can still be stopped, but the numbers may not yet tell the full story. Health officials have warned that the virus may have been circulating undetected for some time, which would mean the true toll is higher than the confirmed and suspected figures now being counted. Armed conflict in eastern Congo is also complicating relief work in a mineral-rich area where groups have long fought for control, making it harder to reach patients and trace contacts quickly enough to break chains of transmission.
This is Congo’s 17th recorded Ebola epidemic, and the disease was first identified there in 1976. The WHO says the death rate has averaged 50% across past outbreaks in the country, and it also said there is no approved treatment for the Bundibugyo strain behind the current one. Advisory groups have recommended clinical trials of vaccines and treatments, and the push now is to move faster than the virus, not after it.
Neighboring Uganda added another layer of urgency on Wednesday when it recorded one Ebola death and eight additional cases and immediately closed its border with Congo. The WHO warned that such closures can drive informal crossings and make the disease harder to monitor and contain. More than 245,000 people have fled eastern Congo to neighboring countries since January 2025, a scale of movement that gives the virus more chances to move with them. Tedros told those in the region that the outbreak can be stopped. Whether that holds will depend on how quickly aid workers can reach Ituri, how far the virus has already spread unseen, and whether the fighting pauses long enough for health teams to catch up.
