The Ebola epidemic declared in May in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is approaching 8,000 confirmed cases and has claimed 3,833 lives, amid growing fears of further spread despite sustained international containment efforts.
According to the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), a total of 7,946 confirmed infections have been recorded to date, including 56 in the last 24 hours, a period during which 34 additional deaths were registered.
The cumulative case fatality rate stands at 48.2%, according to the institute's latest bulletin. Currently, 848 patients are hospitalised or in isolation, while 2,001 have recovered from the disease. The contact-tracing rate for confirmed cases stands at 79.2%, having declined in recent days.
Ituri province remains the epicentre of the outbreak, accounting for 76.4% of all confirmed cases and 62.5% of cases recorded in the last 24 hours. Beyond Ituri, the epidemic has reached the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo, Upper Uélé, Lower Uélé, and South Ubangi.
Authorities have raised the alarm over difficulties in receiving new patients in Ituri due to 'limited capacity', noting that health centres designated for the hospitalisation of suspected cases are already 'saturated'.
The current outbreak is the deadliest ever recorded in the history of the DRC, surpassing the 2018–2020 epidemic. Projections indicate it could also exceed the West African epidemic of 2014–2016.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, that West African outbreak caused 11,325 deaths among 28,616 identified cases across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The DRC, which in December 2025 declared the end of a separate Ebola outbreak in the Kasai region, has recorded more than a dozen outbreaks since the virus was first identified in 1976. That year, one of the initial foci occurred in the Congolese locality of Yambuku, near the Ebola River, which gave the disease its name.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected persons or animals and can cause severe illness characterised by fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some cases haemorrhaging.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/28/mundo/africa/ebola-mortes-na-rdc-aproximam-se-das-4-mil/
