The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) raised the death toll from its ongoing Ebola outbreak to 580 on Wednesday, with confirmed cases climbing to 1,708 since the outbreak was officially declared in the east of the country on 15 May.
According to the latest bulletin from the DRC Ministry of Communication and Mass Media, based on data collected through 6 July, the case fatality rate currently stands at 34%.
A total of 680 patients are under isolation or hospitalisation, while 280 others have recovered from the disease. The contact tracing rate stands at 75.2%.
“A new health zone (Boga) is now affected in Ituri, which reinforces the mapping of the epidemic,” the Ministry stated.
The outbreak was formally declared on 15 May in Ituri, a province bordering Uganda and South Sudan and the epicentre of the epidemic. It has since spread to the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
The epidemic has also extended to Uganda, where 20 confirmed cases have been detected, including 15 considered to have been imported from the DRC, among which two deaths have been recorded.
Additionally, the French government confirmed the detection of its first positive Ebola case in a physician returning from a mission in the DRC.
The outbreak is associated with the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which carries a fatality rate of between 30% and 50% and for which no authorised vaccine or specific treatment exists, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has assessed the risk of further spread within sub-Saharan Africa as “high” while characterising the global risk as “low.”
The WHO estimates that the virus began circulating in Ituri approximately two months before the outbreak was officially declared, and on 17 May classified the epidemic as a “public health emergency of international concern.”
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/07/08/mundo/africa/ebola-rdc-sobe-para-580-numero-de-mortos-pelo-virus/
