World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Following a meeting of the UN agency’s Emergency Committee, the decision was made to extend the emergency status originally declared in May, citing a continuing severe threat to Congolese populations and neighboring nations. Dr. Tedros urged international partners to rapidly mobilize additional resources to scale up containment operations as the virus continues to outpace response teams on the ground.
The latest WHO assessment indicates that the epidemic has recorded 4,945 confirmed cases and 2,325 deaths, making it the largest Ebola outbreak ever documented in the DRC and the second largest in history behind the 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic. Transmission risks remain categorized as “very high” within the DRC across six affected provinces, and “high” in adjacent areas such as Uganda, though the risk globally and across the broader continent remains low. The virus is spreading at an unprecedented speed, exacerbated by persistent regional insecurity, population displacement, and heavy movement along mining corridors and transit routes.
Operational challenges are further compounded by volatile security conditions and violence against healthcare workers. Following a recent attack in Ituri’s Aru territory that injured an ambulance driver and damaged medical vehicles, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Julien Harneis condemned the violence and called for strict adherence to international humanitarian law. To overcome local resistance and improve field operations, the WHO is ramping up community engagement, particularly with motorcycle taxi associations whose members often transport patients and are ideally positioned to assist with early case identification and surveillance.
In addition to community outreach, international organizations are deploying significant resources to strengthen medical infrastructure. Over 100 additional epidemiologists and 500 community health workers have been mobilized for contact tracing, while 400 new hospital beds have been established across treatment centers. Although progress has been made in implementing safe burial protocols and securing roughly 60 percent of the required $115 million response budget, health authorities emphasize that sustained vigilance, local survivor-led trust-building efforts, and robust regional coordination remain critical to containing the crisis.
TE/lb/APA