Ebola Outbreak 2026: Congo Cases, Deaths and Response

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has passed 9,400 confirmed cases and spread to an eighth province, five months after it was declared. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a type of Ebola with no licensed vaccine or treatment. Congo’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP) reported 9,415 confirmed cases and 4,536 deaths as of Thursday, Oct. 16, 2026, including 67 new cases and 26 deaths in a single day.

The CDC calls it the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, behind only the 2014–2016 epidemic in West Africa. Follow the daily numbers, maps of the hardest-hit areas and a timeline on our Ebola Outbreak Tracker.

The Ebola outbreak by the numbers

Confirmed cases: 9,415 in Congo (INSP situation report 155, data as of Oct. 16). Congo reports confirmed cases only and does not publish a count of probable cases, according to the CDC.
Deaths: 4,536 among confirmed cases (INSP, Oct. 16).
Case fatality rate: 48.2% of confirmed cases (INSP, Oct. 16).
Health workers infected: 245, including 47 deaths (WHO weekly situation report 21, data as of Oct. 4).
Contact tracing: 26,216 of 33,125 listed contacts, or 79.1%, were followed up on Oct. 16, below the 85% target (INSP). In Bunia, the worst-hit health zone, follow-up was 24.9%.
Vaccination: 8,497 people vaccinated with Ervebo (WHO, Oct. 4) out of 70,000 doses allocated to Congo in August, 20,000 of them reserved for a clinical trial (WHO and Africa CDC, Aug. 20).
Spread: 66 of Congo’s 178 health zones in eight provinces have reported cases (INSP, Oct. 16). Kenya has reported seven cases, including one death (Kenya Ministry of Health, Oct. 17).

Where the virus is spreading

Ituri province accounts for 6,891 cases and 3,180 deaths, about three in four cases nationally, according to INSP. North Kivu has 2,027 cases and 1,150 deaths, followed by Haut-Uélé with 406 cases. Bunia, Rwampara and Nizi in Ituri are the most affected health zones. On Oct. 16, the health ministry confirmed two cases in Nord-Ubangi, making it the eighth province to report the disease.

WHO said in its Oct. 8 update that transmission remains intense nationally but uneven, with clear signs of slowing in some areas and growth in others. Weekly cases rose 2.5%, from 475 to 487, over the most recent weeks it reviewed. INSP reported continuing community resistance in Katwa, Beni and Butembo in North Kivu.

Response: vaccines, treatments and funding

WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, two days after Congo declared it. Africa CDC declared a public health emergency of continental security on May 18. WHO rates the risk as very high in Congo, high for neighboring countries and low globally.

Ervebo, Merck’s vaccine against the related Zaire ebolavirus, is being given to health and frontline workers under a study protocol, since it is not licensed against Bundibugyo. North Kivu began its campaign at Beni General Hospital on Oct. 16, vaccinating 62 people on the first day toward a provincial target of 36,070, INSP said. Experimental Bundibugyo vaccines from the University of Oxford and Moderna are in early-stage trials.

No treatment is approved. WHO’s PARTNERS trial, which began enrolling patients on July 2, is testing the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral remdesivir. WHO regional director Dr. Mohamed Janabi told the Associated Press that supportive care, such as blood transfusions, oxygen and antibiotics, improves the chances of survival, and that about 2,400 people had survived the disease.

Africa CDC says about $2.9 billion has been mobilized for the response. On Oct. 14, Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said more than $700 million of about $962 million disbursed to aid groups had not been accounted for to Congolese authorities. Read our report on the Congo Ebola funds dispute.

Cases outside Congo and travel rules

Uganda reported 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before declaring its outbreak over on Aug. 27. France reported one imported case, who recovered. Kenya confirmed its first case on Oct. 6 and reported four more on Oct. 17, bringing its total to seven, three of them health workers. We covered Kenya’s first case and contact tracing here. An MSF staff member infected in Congo was evacuated to the Netherlands on Oct. 1.

In the United States, the CDC says there are no cases and the risk to the public is low. Travelers who were in Congo in the previous 21 days may not board flights to the U.S., and the CDC renewed the order on Oct. 11 through Nov. 10, according to a Federal Register notice published Oct. 15. U.S. citizens arriving from Uganda or South Sudan are screened at Washington Dulles, Atlanta and New York JFK airports. Boston Logan is not on the list. WHO advises against travel and trade restrictions.

What it means for Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued guidance to clinicians in June on evaluating and testing patients with recent travel to affected areas, State House News Service reported. Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said at the time that “there is no active threat to our local communities.” Massachusetts General Hospital is New England’s designated Ebola treatment center.

How it compares with past outbreaks

The 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic had 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths, according to WHO. The 2018–2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri, the largest in Congo’s history until this year, had 3,470 cases and 2,287 deaths. The CDC said the current outbreak reached 1,000 cases within about 40 days of being declared, compared with 235 days in 2018.

Bundibugyo virus had caused only two earlier outbreaks, in Uganda in 2007 and in Congo in 2012, with fewer than 150 cases each. The CDC says the virus has historically killed about 30% of people infected; in this outbreak, the reported fatality rate is close to 48%.

What officials are saying

“The outbreak had a big head start, still way ahead of us, and we’re playing catch-up,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in August, according to the AP.

“To interrupt this outbreak, we must know where every contact is, follow them, and rapidly identify anyone who develops symptoms before they transmit the virus to their family, community or across borders,” Kaseya said in an Africa CDC statement after Kenya’s first case.

Médecins Sans Frontières said on Oct. 1: “The human cost of this crisis is unprecedented in the DRC.”

Kenya’s health ministry said on Oct. 17 that “the risk to the general public remains low as there is no evidence of community transmission,” Reuters reported.

Top photo: Health workers disinfect the shoes of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres at the Mangina Ebola Treatment Centre in North Kivu on Sept. 1, 2019, during the 2018–2020 outbreak (file photo). MONUSCO Photos via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

This article is for information and is not medical advice.

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Ebola Outbreak in Congo Tops 9,400 Cases as Virus Reaches Eighth Province