Africa’s top public health agency has confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with at least 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases reported in the remote Ituri province.
Health officials are working to determine whether the outbreak involves the deadly Ebola Zaire strain or a different variant, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Neighboring Uganda has also reported one Ebola-related death involving a Congolese man whose case was imported from Congo.
The outbreak is concentrated in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones in eastern Congo, near the borders of Uganda and South Sudan. Officials warn the region faces a heightened risk of cross-border transmission due to mining-related travel, weak infrastructure, and ongoing insecurity.
Only four of the deaths have so far been laboratory confirmed. Testing and sequencing efforts are ongoing.
The World Health Organization has sent a response team to the region. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Congo has a "strong track record" responding to Ebola outbreaks and announced $500,000 in emergency funding.
Congo has stockpiles of Ebola treatments and approximately 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, though officials caution it is only effective against the Ebola Zaire strain.
This marks the country’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified there in 1976.