1,405 people have been proven to have died from the virus since the end of April.Image: keystone
July 27, 2026, 02:34July 27, 2026, 02:34
The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to expand. 1,405 people have been confirmed to have died from the virus since the end of April, according to figures from the Congolese health authorities. The number of laboratory-confirmed infections rose to 3,200.
According to the authorities, the death rate is currently 43.9 percent – this means that almost half of all confirmed infections ended fatally. Experts assume there is a high number of unreported infections that have not yet been detected or reported.
Conflicts and mistrust make containment difficult
It is assumed that the disease was able to spread unnoticed for weeks in eastern Congo in the spring. Conflicts with armed groups and great mistrust of helpers make containment difficult.
So far, Ebola infections have been recorded in 5 of the 26 provinces of the country of 116 million inhabitants, with the northeastern province of Ituri identified as the center of the outbreak. Ituri borders Uganda and South Sudan. There were also Ebola cases in Uganda, at least two of which were fatal.
Third worst Ebola epidemic
Ebola fever is a life-threatening disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and especially contact with body fluids. The current outbreak is particularly difficult to contain, also because there is currently neither a specific vaccine nor a targeted therapy for the Ebola pathogen of the Bundibugyo type. The clinical test phase of two antiviral therapy procedures has been running since the beginning of July.
In 2014 and 2015, more than 11,000 people died in an Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Around 2,300 people died in the second worst recorded outbreak from 2018 to 2020 in eastern Congo. In terms of the number of victims, this is now the third most serious Ebola epidemic since records began. (sda/dpa)