Ebola outbreak in DR Congo kills 139, WHO declares emergency

DR Congo’s World Cup buildup collided with a public health emergency this week, as the national team scrapped a three-day training camp and fan farewell in Kinshasa and shifted preparations to Belgium while Ebola tore through eastern Congo.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 17 May 2026, saying the risk was high nationally and regionally. As of 16 May, WHO said Ituri province had reported eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths. Later reporting put the toll at 139 suspected deaths and about 600 suspected cases in DR Congo, with additional confirmed cross-border cases in Uganda.

The outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, and WHO and health experts say there is still no approved vaccine or treatment for it. WHO has said a candidate vaccine could take up to nine months to be ready, a reminder that even as surveillance tightens, the medical response remains limited.

That lag matters because the outbreak may already have been moving for weeks before it was fully recognized. Reuters later reported it likely began about two months before 20 May 2026 and could keep growing. UN experts have warned that the crisis is unfolding in a region already strained by conflict, displacement, hunger and weak health services, especially in eastern Congo.

The football disruption showed how quickly an epidemic can spill beyond clinics and laboratories. DR Congo had planned a send-off event in Kinshasa with President Felix Tshisekedi, but those plans were shelved as the team relocated its preparation camp to Belgium. The move also came after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention restricted entry for non-U.S. passport holders who had been in DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days.

DR Congo are due to play Denmark in Liege on 3 June and Chile in Marbella on 9 June before heading to the World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The squad is expected to arrive in the U.S. on 10 or 11 June, where the health screening burden will be lower if the outbreak is contained sooner rather than later.

For DR Congo, this is already the country’s 17th Ebola outbreak, and the timing is especially stark. The government had only declared the end of a previous Ebola outbreak on 1 December 2025, less than six months ago.