The death toll from Congo’s Ebola outbreak has passed 5,000, according to data from the Congolese Ministry of Health released on Saturday, 31 October 2026. Officials reported 5,026 deaths among 10,351 people infected, a lethality rate of nearly 50%.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared in mid-May 2026 and caught authorities by surprise. It is already the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, surpassed only by the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, which killed 11,000 people.
Since May, the virus has spread to 67 of the country’s 178 health zones across eight of its 26 provinces, with 50 zones currently reporting active cases. The eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu are the epicentres, accounting for 9,782 confirmed cases and 4,792 deaths between them.
So far, 2,788 people have recovered. There is no known vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo virus, so patients are cared for according to their symptoms.
Efforts to contain the outbreak are struggling. About 80% of new cases are coming from outside monitored contact chains, according to Africa CDC, and around one-third of recorded deaths were people who died outside treatment centres before being tested, according to the WHO’s Dr Patrick Otim. Dr Otim called it “a very tragic milestone because it is just not a number” — families and communities have been devastated.
The response is being hampered by conflict in the east, including the M23 rebel group and an Islamist insurgency near the Uganda border, by disbelief among parts of the population, and by attacks on health workers — a nurse was killed last week while responding to an Ebola alert. Health-worker strikes over delayed pay are adding to the strain: on Friday, workers at the Tchomia treatment centre in Ituri stopped work demanding four months of unpaid wages, while the centre was caring for five confirmed and 10 suspected patients.
Cases have also been recorded beyond Congo. Kenya confirmed eight cases and two deaths in October, Nigeria’s sole confirmed case was evacuated to Switzerland, and Uganda recorded cases earlier. That makes this the first outbreak recorded in three African regions and the continent’s most geographically widespread.
Note: The featured image is illustrative only and is not a photograph of the outbreak.
