‘This is a fire’: DRC Ebola outbreak is fastest-growing ever, warns WHO

Infections of the Bundibugyo species of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reached record highs and a majority of new cases are coming from “unknown chains of transmission”, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva after returning from Bunia in eastern DRC’s Ituri Province, at the heart of the outbreak, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said that with close to 2,000 confirmed cases and more than 700 deaths across five provinces as of 11 July, the current outbreak is the third-largest ever.

“We've seen the fastest growth in a single month since the outbreak started and of all the Ebola outbreaks that we have managed,” he said.

“Over the last few days, we've seen some of the highest numbers of new infections in a single day,” Dr Ihekweazu added, including over 80 cases confirmed in 24 hours.

Many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility or receiving care – which is what the WHO official described as “the most alarming finding”.

Despite progress on diagnostics and high contact follow-up rates, “80 per cent of new cases are outside our contact lists and so are coming to us from unknown chains of transmission,” Dr Ihekweazu warned.

The current outbreak was declared two months ago almost to the day and WHO’s modelling indicates that its scale could be “at least two to four times” the number of reported cases.

“You have to imagine that this is a fire,” Dr Ihekweazu said. “There's something driving the fire in its heart, and it's also expanding at the same time.”

While up to 95 per cent of all new Ebola cases come from Ituri Province where the outbreak started, the virus has very recently spread to two new provinces, Haut-Uele and Tshopo.

The WHO official outlined a two-pronged strategy for the response: continue pushing at the heart of the outbreak in Ituri and at the same time, “understand the travel routes… and really map out where the risks are of new cases coming up”.

Urging the international community not to be “despondent” in the face of the disease’s rapid spread, the WHO official insisted that the work was bringing results.

“Now is not the time to drop the ball,” he warned.

Several therapeutics are undergoing clinical trials but there is no approved treatment for patients with the Bundibugyo species of Ebola yet. Still, chances of survival increase significantly with early supportive care.

“We must find the cases earlier, bring them into care as soon as possible” to reduce transmission in the community and avoid staying behind the curve, Dr Ihekweazu said.

Asked about recent attacks on healthcare workers and facilities he explained that the solution lies in “being open and transparent” about the care being provided.

“Before any new centre is opened, we invite leaders of the community to see what is being done” and to speak with the health care providers who have left their homes to support the response, he said.

Preventing attacks on healthcare relies on building community confidence in the new facilities and showing people that “they're not going to be left alone - they'll not only be treated, they'll be offered food, they'll have access to their families”.

As the struggle continues to stop the spread of Ebola in DRC, Dr Ihekweazu spoke of “dissonance between the threats facing us and the efforts that we're making to respond.”

“We need the world to come together, not just out of charity or out of support for the DRC, but in our own enlightened best interest. The more we do right now, the better placed we will be in the future,” he concluded.

The WHO official mentioned that at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Member States are negotiating a key part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annexe, which aims to ensure that genetic information on dangerous pathogens with pandemic potential is rapidly shared and vaccines and treatments are made available to developing countries.

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STORY Ebola DRC update - WHO

TRT: 4:11’’

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT WHO BROLL

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 14 JULY 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND AND 03 JULY 2026, EBOLA TREATMENT CENTRE (ETC) AT THE EVANGELICAL MEDICAL CENTRE, BUNIA, ITURI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.

2. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.

3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO): “As of July the 11th, we had seen close to 2,000 cases, confirmed cases, and over 700 deaths across the five provinces now. This is now the third-largest Ebola outbreak ever, and we've seen the fastest growth in a single month since the outbreak started and of all the Ebola outbreaks that we have managed.”

4. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.

5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO): “Over the last few days, we've seen some of the highest numbers of new infections in a single day. A few days ago, we saw over 80 cases confirmed in a single day.”

6. Wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO): “Perhaps the most alarming finding is that many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care. And as of today, 80 per cent of new cases are outside our contact lists and so are coming to us from unknown chains of transmission.”

8. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO): “You have to imagine that this is a fire. There's something driving the fire in its heart, and it's also expanding at the same time. So we have two new provinces, Haut-Uele and Tshopo, where Kisangani is, that have just reported new cases.”

10. Medium shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO): “We must find the cases earlier, bring them into care as soon as possible so that they, so that we reduce transmission in the community. The more cases stay in the community, the more they transmit, the more we stay behind the curve.”

12. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screen.

13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO): “The more we can show the community, the care, the facilities, the context, the efforts being made, the fact that they're not going to be left alone, they'll not only be treated, they'll be offered food, they'll have access to their families, the more they have confidence in the facilities being set up, the fewer attacks we are seeing on health in the area.”

14. Various shots: Journalists in the Press room.

WHO BROLL – CREDIT WHO: 03 JULY 2026, EBOLA TREATMENT CENTRE (ETC) AT THE EVANGELICAL MEDICAL CENTRE, BUNIA, ITURI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

15. Drone shot, Ebola treatment centre (NOSOUND)

16. Wide shot, Ebola treatment centre and health worker walking in PPE (NOSOUND)

17. Wide shot, health workers in PPE walking towards the shower area

18. Wide shot, health workers showering

19. Dolly shot, Red zone entrance

20. Various shots, field hospital extension to the Ebola treatment centre

21. Wide shot, an Ebola patient on a bed, seen through the clear plastic walls of the ETC extension

22. Various shots, medical devices and health workers examining a young Ebola patient