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DRC Ebola outbreak: hundreds of suspected cases, no vaccine
A fast-spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has health workers rushing to stop transmission while the roll out of any potential vaccine is months away, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
WHO’s representative in DRC, Dr Anne Ancia, told reporters in Geneva that there are more than 500 suspected cases including 130 suspected deaths, but that only 30 cases have been confirmed in the country so far.
The agency is working closely with the authorities and rushing more testing kits to eastern DRC to identify cases of infection of Bundibugyo virus, a species of Ebola virus for which there are no vaccines or therapeutics.
“We have significant uncertainty about the number of infections and how far the virus has spread,” Dr Ancia said.
Speaking from Bunia in Ituri province, where cases were initially detected, Dr Ancia said that the outbreak has also reached North Kivu, with confirmed cases in Butembo and Goma. Uganda has also confirmed two imported cases.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday morning. He has expressed concern about the “scale and speed of the epidemic”.
Uncertainty still surrounds how and where outbreak started.
“I don't think that we have the ‘patient zero’ for now,” said Dr Ancia. “What we know for now is that on 5 May, there was…a person who died in Bunia. The body was brought back [to] Mongbwalu…and put in a coffin. And then the family decided that the coffin was not worth the person. And therefore…they changed the coffin. And then there was the funeral, and it's from where it started.”
What is certain is that there is no approved therapy.
Detection of the initial cases was slowed down by the fact that local tests in Bunia showed negative results for the Zaire strain of Ebola. The wide range of symptoms - fever, fatigue, diarrhoea and vomiting - further complicated the task of making a swift diagnosis, with the additional difficulty that the nosebleeds that are also associated with the disease did not begin until day five of infection, the WHO official explained.
In the end, it was only through tests in Kinshasa that the presence of Bundibugyo virus was finally revealed.
Dr Ancia said that there is a focus on the international level on potential candidate vaccines or treatments which could help fight the outbreak. A WHO technical advisory group was scheduled to meet on Tuesday afternoon “to provide further recommendation to the WHO and its Member States on which potential vaccine should be prioritized”, she explained.
Ervebo, a vaccine against the Zaire Ebola virus, is under consideration, the WHO representative said, but “it would take two months for it to be available”.
While a vaccine could bring additional prevention and protection to the affected populations, the key to containing transmission lies in grassroots work within the communities to raise awareness, fight misinformation and ensure adherence to sanitary measures, especially around funerals.
“If we use coercive measures and the population does not agree, we will see bodies disappear. We will see suspected cases refusing to come to the hospitals and health facilities,” Dr Ancia warned, underscoring health workers’ continuing engagement with schools, churches and community leaders.
WHO is supporting the Government-led response with more than 40 health professionals on the ground and through the deployment of supplies and extra diagnostic capacity, in what remains a “highly complex epidemiological, operational and humanitarian context”, characterized by insecurity and displacement, the WHO representative said.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that the affected provinces of Ituri and North Kivu are home to more than two million internally displaced people and returnees, while healthcare capacity remains weakened by conflict.
There is also concern for refugees living in the affected areas. In Ituri some 11,000 South Sudanese refugees require preventive assistance while in North Kivu’s capital, the rebel-held city of Goma, more than 2,000 Rwandan and Burundian refugees need sanitary supplies.
The most recent outbreak of the Ebola Zaire virus in DRC ended in December 2025, and the trauma of a major epidemic in North Kivu and Ituri in 2018-19 persists among the population.
Dr Ancia stressed that while it may be two months until a vaccine is available, “it is not two months before the outbreak will be done”.
“Remember the previous one, it took two years,” she warned.
-ENDS-
STORY Ebola update - WHO
TRT: 2:56’’
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/FRENCH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 19 MAY 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Anne Ancia, Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, World Health Organization (WHO): “We have now significant uncertainty about the numbers of infections and how far the virus has spread. As of today, we have more than 500 suspected cases, including 130 suspected deaths that have been reported by the health authorities. So far, 30 cases have been confirmed in the country.”
4. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalist sin the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Anne Ancia, Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, World Health Organization (WHO): “The outbreaks now affect 10 health zones in Ituri province. It has also reached North Kivu with confirmed cases in Butembo and in Goma. As I mentioned, Uganda has also confirmed two imported cases.”
6. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Anne Ancia, Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, World Health Organization (WHO): “I don't think that we have the patient zero for now. What we know for now is that on 5 May, there was, there is a person who died in Bunia. The body was brought back in Mongwalu and the body was put in a coffin. And then the family decided that the coffin was not worth the person. And therefore what they did, they changed the coffin. And then there was the funeral and it's from where it started.”
8. Medium shot: Journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Anne Ancia, Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, World Health Organization (WHO): “We are also at the international level looking at what candidate vaccines or treatment are available and if any could be of use in this outbreak. There is this afternoon a WHO technical advisory group that will meet to provide further recommendation to the WHO and its member states on which potential vaccine should be prioritized.”
10. Medium shot: Journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Anne Ancia, Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, World Health Organization (WHO): “Erbevo is one of the potential vaccines that is that is looked for eventually be able to come and bring additional prevention and protection among the communities here. Yes, it is. But what I know, it's actually, it would take, what I know from WHO, it would take two months for it to be available.”
12. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (French) – Dr Anne Ancia, Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, World Health Organization (WHO): “Si on utilise des mesures coercives et que la population n'est pas d'accord, nous allons voir des corps disparaître. Nous allons voir des cas suspects qui vont refuser de venir dans les hôpitaux et dans les infrastructures de santé. Donc, nous travaillons vraiment, je peux vous dire que depuis dimanche que les équipes sont arrivées, nous avons commencé à travailler avec les églises, nous avons travaillé avec les écoles, nous travaillons avec les leaders communautaires, vraiment pour avoir cette mobilisation.”
14. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
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