Congo Ebola Cases Rise to 782 With 181 Deaths, Ministry Reports

The Congolese Ministry of Health stated on social platform X on Sunday evening that confirmed Ebola cases in Congo have reached 782, with 181 deaths recorded. Fifty-six people have recovered, producing a fatality rate of 23 percent. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment.

The Zaire virus had been responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 Ebola outbreaks. The outbreak was confirmed on May 15, weeks after it is suspected to have begun. Contact tracing coverage now stands at 56 percent, a sharp decrease from last week, and officials believe the true number of cases is higher.

The outbreak is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90 percent of cases. Cases have also been recorded in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border to Uganda.

Humanitarian office. The province’s dense forests, poor roads, and remote villages that can take days to reach complicate tracing efforts. Tracing is also difficult among the thousands of artisanal miners who regularly move between remote sites in the mineral-rich region.

Attacks on health workers from angry residents, skepticism among some locals, and armed conflict in hot spots continue to challenge containment. S. officials said Washington intends to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility at Laikipia Air Base in Kenya.

The planned center would have a capacity of 50 quarantine beds. The move led to protests over the plans to build an Ebola quarantine center, which was later halted by the courts.