The World Health Organization says the death rate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s current Ebola outbreak is between 30% and 50%, a figure the agency described as “huge” and based on confirmed cases.
Anaïs Legand of the WHO’s high-threat pathogens team told reporters the revised estimate means as many as five in 10 confirmed patients could die. She also confirmed the first verified recovery in the outbreak: a patient discharged from a DRC health centre on 27 May after two negative tests.
Since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, the WHO has recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected deaths and more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases. The organisation warned the true extent may be larger because the virus appears to have circulated undetected for some time.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Kinshasa to support containment efforts and planned to travel to the outbreak’s epicentre in Ituri province, in the north-east, though that visit was delayed by a day. Tedros said the epidemic can be stopped and urged against travel bans, saying they “don’t help much.” He appealed directly to armed groups in the mineral-rich region to declare a ceasefire, noting that conflict and displacement complicate response operations.
The outbreak is the DRC’s 17th recorded Ebola epidemic. Ebola was first identified in the country in 1976 and, across past outbreaks, has averaged about a 50% fatality rate, according to WHO data.
The current outbreak is centred in an area contested by multiple armed groups. More than 245,000 people have fled eastern DRC to neighbouring countries since January 2025, the UN refugee agency reports. Armed groups operating nearby include the M23, which controls large parts of the Kivu provinces south of Ituri.
Early symptoms of Ebola include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, which can progress to vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, rash and impaired kidney and liver function. The disease spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person or someone who has died from Ebola.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved specific treatment. The WHO said advisory groups have recommended clinical trials of vaccines and treatments, and Jean Kaseya, head of the African Union’s health agency, said a vaccine could be ready by the end of the year.
Neighbouring Uganda has recorded one Ebola death and eight additional cases and announced an immediate closure of its border with the DRC. The WHO warned that border closures risk driving people to informal crossings and could hamper monitoring and containment.
In Kenya, the high court temporarily blocked plans to establish a quarantine and treatment facility for affected US citizens under an agreement with the United States. Judge Patricia Nyaundi ruled Kenya could not admit anyone exposed to or infected with Ebola under the proposed deal until a legal challenge brought by the rights group Katiba Institute is heard. The lawsuit argues the plan raises serious constitutional concerns about rights to life, health and fair administrative action.
Kenyan health workers warned the plan could strain the country’s already stretched healthcare system and threatened strike action unless the agreement’s terms were released. US officials had said the 50-bed facility at an air force base would become operational soon and that they would deny entry to anyone infected with the disease. The US also pledged financial support: the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Washington planned to commit $13.5m toward Kenya’s preparedness and had already pledged $112m to the regional response.
Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest recent DRC outbreak, from 2018 to 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people from about 3,500 cases.
The WHO reported receiving 4.6 tonnes of emergency supplies at Bunia airport, the capital of Ituri province, and UN agencies including UNICEF have pledged further aid — UNICEF said it would send 100 tonnes of supplies.
With reporting from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
