KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo – September 24, 2026 (STL.News) The Ebola outbreak sweeping through the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed more than 3,750 people and infected nearly 7,800, as international health officials struggle to contain an epidemic that has spread across seven provinces.
The latest World Health Organization epidemiological data show 7,773 confirmed cases and 3,759 confirmed deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Sept. 21. WHO also listed another 355 suspected cases, while 1,935 people who tested positive had recovered.
The confirmed-case fatality ratio stands at approximately 48%.
The latest figures show an increase of 40 confirmed cases and 27 deaths in one day, based on data reported through Sept. 20, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, has become an increasingly serious international health emergency as transmission continues across parts of eastern and northeastern Congo.
Ituri remains center of Ebola outbreak
Ituri remains by far the hardest-hit province.
According to the latest ECDC assessment, 5,966 confirmed cases and 2,737 deaths had been recorded in Ituri through Sept. 21. Cases have been detected in 28 of the province’s 36 health zones.
North Kivu has emerged as another major area of concern, with 1,438 confirmed cases and 872 deaths reported across 16 of its 34 health zones.
The latest 40 confirmed cases included 19 in Ituri, 13 in North Kivu, 5 in Haut-Uélé, and 3 in Tshopo.
The outbreak’s geographic reach has also expanded substantially since it began.
WHO’s weekly situation report, covering data through Sept. 20, said 63 health zones had been affected since the outbreak began. Dungu Health Zone in Haut-Uélé, which borders South Sudan, was among the most recently affected areas.
The outbreak has reached seven provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo, Haut-Uélé, Bas-Uélé and South Ubangi.
The expansion toward international borders has increased concern that additional cases could cross into neighboring countries.
Outbreak began in May
The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared the outbreak on May 15, 2026.
It is the country’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in 1976.
The outbreak differs from many previous Ebola emergencies in the country because it is caused by Bundibugyo virus, rather than Zaire ebolavirus, the species responsible for most of the largest previous outbreaks.
The scale and speed of the current epidemic have alarmed international health officials.
Earlier this month, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the epidemic as the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded and the fastest-moving WHO has seen.
By Sept. 2, the epidemic had already passed 6,000 reported cases and 3,000 deaths. Less than three weeks later, confirmed cases had risen above 7,700 and confirmed deaths were approaching 3,800.
WHO’s latest weekly report recorded another 475 confirmed cases and 222 confirmed deaths during the reporting period ending Sept. 20.
Those numbers show that substantial transmission continues even as health authorities expand testing, isolation, treatment and contact tracing.
North Kivu raises new concerns
The outbreak is not progressing uniformly across the affected regions.
WHO says transmission patterns increasingly differ by province and health zone. While some areas have experienced declining case numbers, others continue to report significant transmission.
North Kivu has become particularly concerning.
The province has endured years of armed conflict, population displacement and disruption of health services, creating additional obstacles for disease surveillance, contact tracing and treatment.
The situation also illustrates one of the central problems facing the Ebola response: health authorities must locate infected people quickly enough to isolate and treat them while identifying everyone who may have been exposed.
When infected people remain in their communities, transmission can continue unnoticed.
WHO has previously warned that many deaths during the outbreak have occurred outside Ebola treatment centers and that some people who died were not previously identified as contacts of known Ebola patients.
That suggests health authorities have not identified every transmission chain.
Children face particularly high risk
Children have been among the most vulnerable populations in the epidemic.
WHO reported this week that although adults account for most cases, children younger than 5 have experienced a case-fatality ratio exceeding 60%, compared with roughly 40% among adults.
Young children also account for a substantial share of deaths occurring outside Ebola treatment centers.
Delayed diagnosis can be particularly dangerous because early Ebola symptoms can resemble other diseases common in the region, including malaria.
Patients may initially experience fever, weakness, headache, and muscle pain before developing more severe symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
Delays in identifying Ebola can expose family members, caregivers and health workers before appropriate infection-control procedures are established.
The health system faces enormous pressure
Containing an Ebola outbreak requires considerably more than treating patients who have already become ill.
Response teams must identify and monitor contacts, safely transport suspected patients, operate laboratories, maintain treatment centers, conduct safe burials and work with communities to reduce transmission.
As of Sept. 21, approximately 84.5% of identified contacts were under follow-up in affected provinces, according to ECDC.
Another 839 patients were hospitalized in isolation.
WHO has significantly expanded its response since the outbreak began.
By early September, the organization said it had shipped more than 330 metric tons of emergency supplies and deployed more than 300 experts.
Laboratory capacity had expanded from a single national reference laboratory to a network of 24 laboratories located closer to affected communities, while testing capacity had risen to approximately 3,000 tests per day.
Treatment and isolation capacity had also expanded to more than 1,300 beds across 49 facilities at that time.
Yet the enormous geographic area affected by the epidemic — combined with insecurity, displacement, poverty and existing weaknesses in the health system — continues to complicate containment.
Scientists test treatments and vaccines
The specific Ebola species behind the outbreak presents another challenge.
An approved vaccine exists against Zaire ebolavirus, but its effectiveness against Bundibugyo virus has not been established.
WHO said earlier this month that two new vaccine candidates specifically targeting Bundibugyo virus were undergoing safety trials in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Researchers are also evaluating potential treatments and preventive therapies.
A clinical trial known as PARTNERS had enrolled more than 300 Ebola patients by early September, while another study was testing the antiviral drug obeldesivir among high-risk contacts to determine whether it could prevent disease after exposure.
WHO has been working with partners toward efficacy trials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The scientific effort is unfolding while health workers continue trying to stop active transmission on the ground.
Risk to the United States remains very low
Despite the severity of the outbreak in Central Africa, U.S. health authorities say the danger to Americans remains low.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its Sept. 11 assessment that it had not confirmed any cases connected to the current outbreak in the United States.
The CDC characterized the likelihood of the outbreak spreading to the United States as very low and said that, even if an imported case were diagnosed, the risk of onward transmission would remain low because of U.S. infection-control and public health capabilities.
Ebola does not spread as easily as respiratory viruses.
Transmission occurs primarily through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola, or through contaminated objects and materials.
That means the enormous number of cases in Congo does not translate into a comparable risk for the general U.S. population.
Outbreak remains far from over
More than four months after the outbreak was declared, the central concern is whether health authorities can interrupt every remaining chain of transmission.
The latest numbers indicate that it has not.
The increase from 7,733 confirmed cases and 3,732 confirmed deaths on Sept. 20 to 7,773 cases and 3,759 deaths through Sept. 21 shows that new infections and fatalities are continuing.
The outbreak’s geographic expansion also means containment cannot be measured solely by whether cases decline in one province.
A reduction in transmission in one health zone can be offset by new outbreaks elsewhere, particularly when infected people travel before becoming seriously ill or when contacts cannot be located and monitored.
WHO has emphasized that community cooperation remains essential. Fear, misinformation and mistrust can discourage patients from seeking treatment or prevent health teams from identifying contacts and conducting safe burials.
Those challenges are magnified in communities already coping with armed conflict, displacement, hunger and other infectious diseases.
For now, the latest verified figures leave little doubt about the magnitude of the emergency: 7,773 confirmed infections, 3,759 confirmed deaths and seven affected provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
And with new cases still appearing, international health authorities have not declared the epidemic under control.
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