Locals Block Ebola Contact Tracing After Two Deaths in Congo Camp

Health workers from the provincial health ministry, the World Health Organization and other aid agencies were forced away by angry locals at the Kpangba displacement camp in Nizi, Democratic Republic of Congo, after two women died there of Ebola two weeks ago.

Jean-Claude Lonzama, chief doctor for the local health zone of Nizi, said the residents denied the women had died from Ebola and prevented teams from tracing contacts. “Up to this day, we are not able to follow up on the contacts of these cases,” Lonzama told Reuters on Saturday.

Nizi is a heavily populated mining area. The Ebola outbreak was declared one month before June 14, 2026. Since the declaration, several treatment sites have been attacked by locals angry about not being able to bury their loved ones.

A photograph shows volunteers in protective equipment recovering the body of a 3-year-old child presumed to have died from Ebola in Bunia on Thursday.