Congo Ebola Outbreak Reaches 1,561 Cases and 506 Deaths; U.S. Pledges New Emergency Aid

More than 500 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo from an Ebola outbreak that began on May 15, according to the country's Ministry of Health. The ministry recorded 1,561 cases and 506 deaths through the most recent count. The World Health Organization called the first month of the outbreak the worst on record.

The current strain is Bundibugyo, which lacks approved treatments. The 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in the same country killed more than 2,000 people. The International Rescue Committee stated that prior cuts to global aid left the health system weaker than during that earlier epidemic.

U.S. humanitarian funding dropped from $14 billion in 2024 to $3.7 billion in 2025 after the Department of Government Efficiency reduced USAID programs by about 83 percent in February 2025. DOGE ended on July 4.

Fortune reported that these reductions are estimated to have caused more than 750,000 preventable deaths worldwide. During the 2018 outbreak, USAID supported vaccination of more than 300,000 people. The U.S.

State Department announced $23 million in emergency aid to Congo and Uganda to establish 50 screening, isolation, and treatment clinics. Last month the White House requested more than $1.4 billion from Congress, including $800 million for humanitarian response. Phuong Pham, associate professor at the Harvard T.H.

Chan School of Public Health, said sustained investments before outbreaks are essential and that emergency funds cannot fully replace them. Craig Spencer, an emergency physician and associate professor at Brown University, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that virus samples reached a Kinshasa laboratory at the wrong temperature, an operation previously overseen by USAID.