Wednesday, May 20, 2026 -The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to an estimated 131 fatalities from 513 suspected cases, according to the country’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba. The latest figures mark a significant increase from previous official estimates, which reported 91 deaths from 350 suspected infections.
The outbreak, driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has
already prompted the World Health Organization to declare an international
health emergency. No approved vaccine or specific treatment currently exists
for the Bundibugyo variant of the virus, which is one of the less common
strains of Ebola.
“We have recorded roughly 131 deaths in total and we have
around 513 suspected cases,” Kamba said during an appearance on Congolese
national television. However, the minister cautioned that the death toll
remained provisional, explaining that further investigations were required to
determine whether all the suspected deaths were directly linked to Ebola.
The outbreak’s epicentre is located in Ituri province in
northeastern Congo near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan. Health
officials say the region’s busy gold-mining activities and frequent
cross-border movement have increased concerns about the spread of the disease.
Authorities also confirmed that suspected Ebola cases have
now emerged in Butembo in neighbouring North Kivu province, roughly 200
kilometres from the original outbreak zone. Another case has reportedly been
identified in Goma, a major city currently under the control of the
Rwanda-backed M23 militia.
According to Kamba, delays in reporting infections within
communities contributed to the spread of the outbreak. “Unfortunately, the
alert was slow to circulate within the community, because people thought it was
a mystical illness, and so, as a result, the sick were not taken to the
hospital,” he said.
Health officials noted that laboratory testing remains
limited, meaning current figures are based largely on suspected cases rather
than confirmed diagnoses. Ebola outbreaks have killed more than 15,000 people
across Africa over the past five decades, with the Democratic Republic of Congo
repeatedly experiencing some of the continent’s deadliest epidemics.
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