The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has surpassed 11,042 since the outbreak began in May, according to the country’s health authorities.
In its latest situation report, published on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said the country had registered 5,387 deaths, putting the fatality rate at 48.8%.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, has now affected eight provinces and 67 health zones. Ituri remains the epicenter, accounting for nearly 70% of all confirmed infections, followed by North Kivu, where the fatality rate has reached 55%, above the national average.
However, efforts to contain the outbreak continue to face significant challenges. Contact tracing was particularly limited in Tshopo province, where insecurity has disrupted operations.
DR Congo declared its 17th recorded Ebola outbreak on May 15 after laboratory tests confirmed the Bundibugyo strain. The epidemic has since become the country’s deadliest, surpassing the 2018-2020 outbreak, which claimed 2,299 lives.
The outbreak has also spread beyond DR Congo, with cases reported in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. Uganda brought its outbreak under control in August, while Kenya discharged its last Ebola patient on Wednesday, beginning a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the disease, according to Reuters. Kenya has recorded nine infections and two deaths. Nigeria has confirmed one imported case, with no secondary infections detected.
Meanwhile, a British doctor who contracted Ebola while helping fight the outbreak in DR Congo was evacuated to the UK last week. The medic was admitted to a specialist isolation unit at London’s Royal Free Hospital, with British health authorities saying the risk to the public remains low.
Russia has also provided assistance to African countries battling the outbreak. Moscow has supplied diagnostic test kits for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola to all countries bordering DR Congo, Anna Popova, head of the Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said in late October.
In a statement in November, Russia’s mission to the UN said Rospotrebnadzor had delivered more than 7,500 tests to DR Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Uganda.