The authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have updated this Friday the balance of the Ebola outbreak declared in mid-May in the east of the country, raising the figure to nearly 7,900 cases and about 3,800 deaths. The focus, which initially emerged in the eastern area, has been spreading over the weeks to other provinces in the center and northwest of Congolese territory.
The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) has detailed in its latest bulletin that so far 7,890 infections and 3,799 deaths have been confirmed, with 70 new cases and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours. The institution places the fatality rate at 48.1% and contact tracing at 83.4%.
The agency has added that there are currently 893 people hospitalized or in isolation, while 1,966 patients have been discharged after overcoming the disease. The epicenter of the outbreak remains located in Ituri province, which accounts for 76.5% of the cases confirmed by health authorities to date.
According to the INSP, 63 of the 167 health areas spread across the seven affected provinces --Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, and Ubangi-Ubangi-- have reported infections. Ituri is the hardest-hit region, with 28 of its 36 health zones affected by the outbreak, which for weeks has become the deadliest recorded in the country's history and the second deadliest documented in the world.
DRC --which in December 2025 declared the end of another outbreak in the Kasai region-- is considered the country with the most experience globally in managing the Ebola virus, having faced more than a dozen outbreaks since the pathogen was identified in 1976 in a double episode, one of whose epicenters was located in the Congolese locality of Yambuku, on the banks of the Ebola River, which gave its name to the disease.