DRC's Ebola outbreak reaches 5,794 cases as Uganda and France clear their monitoring
WHO's latest update records 1,129 more confirmed cases in twelve days and a case fatality ratio of 48.1%. Transmission is now confined to Congo, across 60 health zones in six provinces.
The World Health Organization published its latest Disease Outbreak News on the Bundibugyo virus epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 28 August. Two things in it move in opposite directions: the outbreak's international footprint has closed, and its domestic footprint has grown again [s1].
The numbers, as of 26 August
Cumulatively, 5,815 confirmed cases have been reported: 5,794 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — including two diagnosed there and subsequently treated in Germany — 20 in Uganda and one in France [s1]. A total of 2,788 deaths have been reported, including two in Uganda [s1]. At least 1,314 patients have recovered: 1,293 in DRC, 18 in Uganda, two in Germany and one in France [s1].
Within DRC alone, the figures are 5,794 confirmed cases and 2,786 deaths, a crude case fatality ratio of 48.1% [s1]. WHO notes that the 48% ratio reflects the severity of the disease and continuing problems with timely case detection, access to and quality of clinical care, and interruption of transmission, and that delays in recognising cases increase onward transmission in households, communities and health facilities [s1].
Since the previous update on 14 August, an additional 1,129 confirmed cases and 602 confirmed deaths were reported in DRC [s1]. WHO attributes part of that rise to expanded surveillance, enhanced laboratory testing, improved diagnostic capacity and periodic reconciliation of data backlogs — and part of it to continued transmission and substantial outbreak expansion [s1].
Where it is spreading
The outbreak has spread from 54 to 60 health zones since the last update, across six of the country's 26 provinces: Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tshopo [s1]. The six newly affected health zones are Ganga and Viadana in Bas-Uélé, Biena, Manguredjipa and Mutwanga in North Kivu, and Tshopo health zone in Tshopo province [s1]. Bas-Uélé, the most recently affected province, began reporting cases on 12 August [s1].
Ituri remains the epicentre with 4,802 confirmed cases since the outbreak began, and 28 of its 36 health zones affected [s1]. North Kivu is second with 775 cumulative confirmed cases across 15 of 34 health zones [s1]. Haut-Uélé has six of 13 affected, Tshopo seven of 23, South Kivu one of 34, and Bas-Uélé three of 11 [s1].
North Kivu also carries the highest case fatality ratio in this outbreak at 68%, for reasons WHO says are under investigation [s1].
In the 24 hours to 26 August, 81 new confirmed cases were reported from 19 health zones across Ituri, North Kivu, Haut-Uélé and Tshopo, including 52 in Ituri and 22 in North Kivu [s1].
The end of the international chains
As of 27 August, the 42-day enhanced monitoring period had been completed in both France and Uganda [s1]. That is the standard interval — two maximum incubation periods after the last case — and its completion means those two chains of transmission are closed.
It does not mean the export risk is closed. WHO states that the continuing intensity of transmission in DRC means further cross-border exportation remains possible; entry and exit screening and surveillance are in place at airports, ports and official land crossings, but movement through informal crossings may occur [s1]. Between 18 May and 28 August, WHO's enhanced public health intelligence identified 76 Ebola-related signals across 23 countries and territories [s1].
WHO's risk assessment, revised on 14 August, rates the risk in DRC as very high, the risk for countries sharing a land border as high — with Uganda, the Central African Republic and South Sudan of particular concern — and the risk for the rest of the African region and globally as low [s1].
Contact tracing at scale
The response is now following a contact list large enough to be a logistics problem in its own right. As of 26 August, 22,091 of 26,850 contacts due for follow-up had been seen in the previous 24 hours — 82.3% [s1].
WHO describes the setting plainly: a conflict-affected humanitarian context marked by insecurity, armed violence and large-scale displacement, with more than 26 million people facing acute food insecurity nationally and an estimated one million internally displaced people in Ituri province alone [s1]. Overcrowding, limited water and sanitation, and restricted access to health care in mining communities, informal settlements and displacement sites hinder early detection, infection prevention and care [s1].
Two documents published in the days before this update speak to the response rather than the epidemiology: a Lancet Global Health piece on operational bottlenecks in the response, framed as a call to action [s2], and WHO operational guidance on protecting health care during the response in eastern DRC [s3]. That both appeared in the same week as a 1,129-case increase is not a coincidence of scheduling.
What is unchanged
The outbreak remains a public health emergency of international concern, following the advice of the Emergency Committee that met on 18 August, with updated temporary recommendations issued to States Parties on 24 August [s1]. There is still no licensed vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for Bundibugyo virus disease [s1]. This is the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in DRC, of any ebolavirus species [s1].
What to watch
The next Disease Outbreak News is due within about two weeks on WHO's stated biweekly cadence [s1]. The figures to watch in it are whether North Kivu's 68% case fatality ratio is explained, whether the count of affected health zones rises above 60, and whether the daily new-case count moves off the low hundreds.
Sources
- Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Disease Outbreak News, 2026-DON616), World Health Organization, 28 August 2026
- Operational bottlenecks in the response to Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a call to action, The Lancet Global Health, 26 August 2026
- Protecting health care during the Bundibugyo virus disease response in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: operational guidance, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 24 August 2026
Sources
- Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Disease Outbreak News, 2026-DON616) — World Health Organization , August 28, 2026
- Operational bottlenecks in the response to Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a call to action — The Lancet Global Health , August 26, 2026
- Protecting health care during the Bundibugyo virus disease response in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: operational guidance — World Health Organization (Bulletin of the World Health Organization) , August 24, 2026
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