Congo confirms Ebola outbreak in Ituri, 65 deaths reported

A delayed alarm may have given Ebola more room to spread through Congo’s remote Ituri province, where Africa CDC said 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths had already been recorded before the outbreak was publicly confirmed. Preliminary laboratory tests detected the virus in 13 of 20 samples, sharpening concerns that the danger to containment grew while surveillance and contact tracing lagged.

Most suspected cases and deaths were reported in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, with additional suspected cases in Bunia, the provincial capital. Africa CDC said the risk of wider transmission was heightened by intense population movement, mining-related mobility in Mongwalu, insecurity in affected areas and gaps in contact listing and control efforts. The outbreak’s location near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan has also raised cross-border concerns, especially because road access is limited and movement across the region is frequent.

Africa CDC said it was convening an urgent high-level coordination meeting with health authorities from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, along with United Nations agencies and other partners, to focus on surveillance, laboratory support, infection prevention and control, risk communication, safe burials and resource mobilization. The response will test how quickly regional health systems can close gaps in detection and tracing before more cases move beyond the remote mining belt.

The Ituri outbreak is at least Congo’s 17th since Ebola was first identified in the country in 1976, underscoring how often the virus has returned to exposed health zones. Congo’s 2018 to 2020 outbreak in the east killed more than 1,000 people, while the West Africa epidemic from 2014 to 2016 killed more than 11,000. Just months ago, Congo also closed another Ebola outbreak in Kasai province, where health officials first identified a 34-year-old pregnant woman as the index case and later reported 64 total cases and 45 deaths across six health areas in Bulape Health Zone. The new outbreak now puts surveillance capacity, local security and cross-border preparedness back under scrutiny.