The authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reported this Monday that the Ebola outbreak declared in mid-May in the east of the country has already reached 7,200 infections and nearly 3,500 deaths, just a few days after the virus's spread was confirmed to a province located in the northwest of Congolese territory.
The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) detailed in its most recent report that so far 7,200 cases and 3,475 deaths have been recorded, with 1,712 people having managed to overcome the disease and 923 patients who continue to be hospitalized or in isolation.
Thus, the fatality rate stands at 48.3%, while the percentage of contacts located and monitored rises to 88%, according to a statement released by the Congolese Ministry of Communication on its official social media channels.
"Surveillance remains intensified, especially in Ituri and North Kivu, as well as in the recently affected provinces --including South Kivu, Tshopo, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, and Sud-Ubangi-- and in those that are at risk," it emphasized.
The current outbreak in the DRC has already become the deadliest recorded in the country, surpassing the one that occurred between 2018 and 2020. Projections indicate that it could even exceed the major outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, which left 28,616 infections and 11,325 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, according to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO).
DRC —which in December 2025 officially declared another outbreak concluded, in that case in the Kasai region— is considered the nation with the greatest global experience in managing the Ebola virus, having faced more than a dozen health emergencies since the pathogen was identified in 1976 in a double outbreak whose epicenter was located in the Congolese town of Yambuku, on the banks of the Ebola River, which gave its name to the disease.