Health & Public Health
DR Congo Ebola: 12 Red Cross volunteers injured
Twelve Red Cross volunteers have been injured in violent incidents during the Ebola response in DR Congo since the outbreak was declared on May 15, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the Red Cross societies of DR Congo and Uganda said on Monday.
The groups said six workers were injured in attacks last week. A Ugandan Red Cross convoy helping the Ebola response was attacked on August 17 in Ituri province, the outbreak’s epicentre, leaving one person seriously injured and two ambulances stoned and vandalised, they said.
They said two volunteers were injured the next day while trying to conduct a burial in Haut-Uele province, and two vehicles were damaged during their evacuation for medical care. On Wednesday, three volunteers were attacked and injured in Beni, North Kivu province, and Ebola response equipment was destroyed, the groups said.
The Red Cross said ambulances had been damaged and emergency response equipment destroyed in 11 violent incidents since the outbreak began. It said every injured worker and damaged ambulance, vehicle or piece of equipment reduces emergency health capacity and makes the epidemic harder to contain.
World Health Organization figures cited for DR Congo put the outbreak at 2,557 deaths from 5,375 confirmed Ebola cases. The WHO called on DR Congo on Monday to take social-distancing measures to contain the outbreak and to reduce red tape for international health teams and supplies entering the country.
The WHO also urged authorities to set up traffic stops for health checks in areas where the virus is spreading and to limit motorcycle use to a single passenger.
The virus has hit northern and eastern regions where health infrastructure is limited and armed groups have operated for decades. Tensions have emerged with local communities over the handling of the remains of Ebola victims. Burials must be supervised because Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and corpses can remain contagious.
The outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
Update
The World Health Organization called on DR Congo to take social-distancing measures to contain the Ebola outbreak.
The WHO urged DR Congo to reduce red tape for international health teams and supplies entering the country.
The WHO urged traffic stops for health checks in areas where the virus is spreading and limits on motorcycle use to one passenger.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 August 2026 at 20:05:55 UTC.
Update
The Red Cross said six workers helping contain the Ebola outbreak were injured in attacks last week in DR Congo.
The Red Cross said 12 volunteers have been injured in 11 violent incidents since the outbreak was declared on May 15.
The incidents included attacks or injuries in Ituri, Haut-Uele and Beni in North Kivu, with ambulances, vehicles and Ebola response equipment damaged or destroyed.
WHO figures cited for DR Congo put the outbreak at 2,557 deaths from 5,375 confirmed Ebola cases.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 August 2026 at 11:35:16 UTC.
Update
Pope Leo XIV called on the international community to help contain Ebola in DR Congo.
The pope said the response should also involve local communities.
The pope made the comments after the Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square on Sunday.
Source note: AFP news report published on 23 August 2026 at 10:46:56 UTC.
Update
Doctors Without Borders warned that the outbreak was spreading at an alarming rate.
UN coordinator Julien Harneis said about 160 healthcare workers had fallen ill with Ebola, including 43 who died.
Cases have been reported in six DR Congo provinces and in Uganda; Uganda recorded two deaths from 20 cases and declared itself free of the virus last month.
Harneis said attacks on ambulance and frontline workers, weak banking systems and international funding cuts were hampering the response.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said it is not yet known whether Ervebo protects humans against the Bundibugyo strain.
Source note: AFP news report published on 21 August 2026 at 11:35:18 UTC.
Update
UN senior Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis said half of the more than 2,500 deaths occurred in the last 20 days.
Harneis said the outbreak now covers an area bigger than France.
Harneis warned that without more resources the outbreak could become more deadly, spread wider and risk spreading into neighbouring countries.
The outbreak was described as already the biggest in DR Congo’s history and spreading faster than any outbreak on record.
Source note: AFP news report published on 21 August 2026 at 09:43:32 UTC.
Update
UN senior Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis said the outbreak has killed more than 2,500 people.
Harneis said the death toll increases every day.
Source note: AFP news report published on 21 August 2026 at 09:34:21 UTC.
Update
The United Nations said the DR Congo Ebola outbreak is growing exponentially.
Source note: AFP news report published on 21 August 2026 at 08:47:10 UTC.
Update
WHO experts said early data, including animal trials, showed Ervebo may give some protection against the Bundibugyo strain.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the vaccine release.
Source note: AFP news report published on 20 August 2026 at 13:38:14 UTC.
Update
WHO said 20,000 Ervebo doses were allocated for a Phase 3 clinical trial to study the vaccine's impact on the Bundibugyo strain.
WHO said 50,000 Ervebo doses were allocated for frontline and health workers.
WHO said the uses were in line with current recommendations from its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization.
Source note: AFP news report published on 20 August 2026 at 11:35:27 UTC.
Update
The World Health Organization said DR Congo would receive 70,000 Ervebo vaccine doses.
The delivery status is more cautious than the published candidate's wording that DR Congo had already received the doses.
Source note: AFP news report published on 20 August 2026 at 11:10:31 UTC.
Update
WHO said the 70,000 Ervebo doses were released Monday by the International Coordination Group for Vaccine Provision.
WHO said the doses were released for trials and limited use in the response to the Bundibugyo-strain outbreak.
WHO said Ervebo has proved safe and efficacious against the Zaire strain of Ebola, not the Bundibugyo strain spreading in DR Congo.
Source note: AFP news report published on 20 August 2026 at 10:35:07 UTC.
Update
The Democratic Republic of Congo has received 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, according to the WHO.
Source note: AFP news report published on 20 August 2026 at 10:23:13 UTC.
Update
Africa CDC said the DR Congo Ebola outbreak had reached 5,021 confirmed cases.
Africa CDC said the outbreak had caused 2,378 deaths.
The latest figures put confirmed cases above 5,000.
Source note: AFP news report published on 19 August 2026 at 16:43:44 UTC.
Update
Dieudonne Mwamba, head of the DRC's Institute of Public Health, said community wariness explained the rise in cases and deaths over the past three or four weeks.
WHO expert Thierno Balde said response efforts were being scaled up and decentralised closer to communities where the virus is spreading.
Balde said WHO was working to better protect motorcycle taxi drivers who transport patients and integrate them into surveillance.
Balde said WHO and partners hoped to see an impact from the scale-up in the coming months but could not give a timeline for control.
Source note: AFP news report published on 18 August 2026 at 19:12:12 UTC.
Update
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an emergency meeting that the outbreak is far from being under control.
The WHO emergency committee met for a second time after declaring the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17.
WHO currently assesses the risk as very high nationally in DR Congo, high for Uganda and other bordering countries, and low for the rest of Africa and the world.
Source note: AFP news report published on 18 August 2026 at 12:42:38 UTC.
Update
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned at an emergency meeting that the risk of further national and international spread remains high.
Tedros said the outbreak was moving faster than any previous Ebola epidemic.
Source note: AFP news report published on 18 August 2026 at 12:02:14 UTC.
Update
The WHO chief said the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak is far from being under control.
Source note: AFP news report published on 18 August 2026 at 11:51:26 UTC.
Update
No specific vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain behind the current surge, while several vaccines are being tested against it.
The outbreak has spread from Ituri to five other provinces in DR Congo.
WHO regional director for Africa Mohamed Janabi said community engagement in the response remains too weak and that more than 70 percent of people die in the community rather than in health centres.
AFP observed limited visible prevention measures in Bunia, despite a town hall order for traders to install hand-washing facilities.
Aid groups say access to affected communities is hampered by armed groups in some affected regions.
Local health staff, including nurses and safe-burial workers, have gone on strike or demonstrated in several Ituri hospitals to demand bonus payments.
The International Council of Nurses urged DR Congo authorities to provide proper pay and protection for healthcare workers fighting the outbreak.
Source note: AFP news report published on 17 August 2026 at 10:03:25 UTC.
Update
The United Nations described the DR Congo Ebola outbreak as the fastest growing on record.
The outbreak began in Ituri province and has spread to five other DR Congo provinces.
The outbreak was declared on May 15 and is thought to have been spreading for several weeks before then.
The World Health Organization said last week it hoped to reverse the spread in DR Congo within three months.
The source says this is DR Congo's 17th Ebola outbreak.
Source note: AFP news report published on 17 August 2026 at 08:47:06 UTC.
Update
DR Congo government figures put deaths in the outbreak at 2,325 from 4,945 confirmed cases.
The toll has overtaken the 2018-2020 outbreak, which killed 2,299 people from 3,381 confirmed cases.
Source note: AFP news report published on 17 August 2026 at 07:52:55 UTC.
Update
The DR Congo government said the Ebola outbreak is now the deadliest ever.
Source note: AFP news report published on 17 August 2026 at 07:37:59 UTC.
Update
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo was killing someone every 30 minutes.
Fletcher described the outbreak as the fastest growing on record and called for greater international action.
Countries had donated nearly $300 million to a fund to combat the outbreak, according to Fletcher.
Fletcher allocated another $30.5 million from a UN emergency fund, in addition to $24 million already allocated to help DR Congo and four other countries.
Cases had been reported in six DR Congo provinces and Uganda, and near the border with South Sudan.
Fletcher said 20 extra staff had been sent to Ebola frontlines but that more teams, treatment capacity, contact tracing and experienced managers were needed.
Source note: AFP news report published on 14 August 2026 at 19:54:15 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The attackers and their motives in the cited incidents were not identified.
The Red Cross and WHO figures are attributed to those organisations.
Source
AFP news report published on .