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Community trust and lab testing at the heart of DRC Ebola response – WHO
In Ebola-stricken eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a massive push for early testing and contact tracing is underway to contain the virus, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
The fast-moving outbreak, which has also spread to neighbouring Uganda, is caused by the rare and deadly Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. WHO’s Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations Director, Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, told reporters in Geneva that as of 8 June in DRC, there have been 550 confirmed cases and 101 deaths.
“The good news [is], we have 19 cumulative recovered patients, so early identification and treatment save lives,” he said.
Speaking from Bunia in Ituri Province, which accounts for 94 per cent of total cases in the country, Dr Mahamud explained that the rise in confirmed cases “is due to the scale-up of testing”. More decentralized labs have opened to accelerate analysis of suspected Ebola samples, including a fully functional facility in Mongbwalu, he said.
Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases including two deaths, as well as one probable individual who has died. WHO said that there is no evidence of community transmission in Uganda so far.
In DRC as of 6 June, 5,040 contacts had been identified and were under follow-up across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. The ramp-up in contact tracing has enabled health workers to reach 62 per cent of the contacts so far, with hopes of reaching the 90 to 95 per cent target “in the coming weeks”, Dr Mahamud said. He described making “slow and steady progress” based on building trust and working with the community.
The WHO official stressed that local healthcare workers play an essential role in early identification and referral of cases to treatment centres. He described the current set-up as “a well-functioning system that’s integrated from surveillance to contact tracing to the treatment centre and to the lab”, along with efficient data sharing.
Still, major challenges remain, including in remote locations with limited connectivity, from where samples may take eight hours to reach a lab.
“Ituri is as big as France,” Dr Mahamud said. “If you are in Bunia, you can get your result in one or two hours”, whereas for places further away from testing facilities, the process can take 24 hours.
In a positive development, in remote Aru close to the Ugandan border, where samples have to travel for 10 hours by road for testing, a lab will be operational by Friday, he said.
So far WHO has set up field laboratories in five affected areas to enable testing closer to the epicentre of the outbreak. Working with partners in support of Government-led efforts, the UN health agency has deployed over 100 personnel to the DRC, delivered 40 tonnes of equipment and medical supplies, and helped set up Ebola treatment centres.
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STORY Ebola DRC update – WHO
TRT: 3:17’’
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT WHO BROLL
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 9 JUNE 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND; 21 MAY AND 2 JUNE 2026, BUNIA, ITURI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
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 Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO): “As of 8 June, there have been 550 confirmed cases with 101 deaths. The good news, we have 19 cumulative recovered patients, so early identification and treatment save lives.”
4. Wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO): “The outbreak remains concentrated in this province where I am now, in Ituri, accounting for 94 per cent of the cases. The increase in the confirmed cases is due to the scale-up of testing. Now we have a decentralized lab in Mongbwalu, a fully functional lab where we're able to test.”
6. Medium reverse shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO): “Contact tracing is one of the latest pillars of the response. As of now, we have reached 62 per cent of the contacts, but our target is 90 to 95 per cent. Where we are, it is a slow and steady progress, but we have not reached where we want to be. And that comes down to the community trust and working with the community.”
8. Medium-wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO): “It's a well-functioning system that's integrated from surveillance to contact tracing to the treatment center and to the lab. So it is end-to-end data system and data sharing. Of course, there are places with limited internet. So that's another challenge.”
10. Wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO): “There are places that you cannot reach. It takes hours, seven, eight hours for the sample to reach. But overall, with the lab decentralization and the ramp up of the scale-up, we are confident that that aspect of testing and confirmation will be as rapid as possible.”
12. Medium-wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO): “Ituri is as big as France. So that's what we're talking about. So places like here, you can get, if you are in Bunia, you can get your result in one or two hours. In the places that’s far, you can get within 24 hours. With the decentralization of the lab, having a lab in Aru is the farthest from here that can take seven to 10 hours by road. So by Friday, we'll have a lab there.”
14. Various shots: Journalists in the Press room.
15. WHO BROLL – CREDIT WHO: 02 JUNE 2026, BUNIA, ITURI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Various shots, medical supplies being loaded onto a helicopter. Various shots, from inside the helicopter, passengers, shots of the countryside.
16. WHO BROLL – CREDIT WHO: 21 MAY 2026, BUNIA GENERAL REFERENCE HOSPITAL, BUNIA, ITURI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO; Various shots, a tent wall being unfurled (NOSOUND); Med shot, WHO signage being attached to a tent.
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