DR Congo Ebola Outbreak Spreads to Seventh Province

By Al Mayadeen English

11 Sep 2026 15:42

The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has spread to a seventh province, with authorities placing 38 people in quarantine after a patient died.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to a seventh province, bordering the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville, the governor of South-Ubangi province said on Friday, as cited by AFP.

The governor's office officially declared an outbreak of the highly infectious virus in the northwestern province after analyzing a suspected case.

An Ebola patient died in the province after undertaking a long journey across several provinces, some of which have not so far reported cases of the disease, acting governor Jean-Rene Galekwa told reporters on Thursday.

Ebola outbreak reaches South-Ubangi province

Until now, the outbreak, officially detected in mid-May, had been reported in six provinces in the country's conflict-plagued east and northeast.

Armed groups have roamed those regions for decades while state presence is weak and health infrastructure is largely lacking.

The current outbreak, the 17th to hit the Democratic Republic of Congo, has killed 3,310 people out of 6,843 confirmed cases, according to the latest figures from the Congolese authorities.

Patient's journey raises concerns of further spread

The patient who died in South-Ubangi had developed symptoms in the capital of Tshopo province, Kisangani, where Ebola cases have been reported, after having travelled to Rwanda, then Uganda and Ituri province in northeastern DRC, Galekwa said.

He then travelled by boat on the Congo River.

"The route taken both by the patient and by the boat exposes the population" of the provinces of North-Ubangi, Tshopo, and Mongala, Galekwa said.

"Thirty-eight people have been identified as having been in contact with the patient and have been placed in quarantine," he said.

Bundibugyo Ebola strain has no approved vaccine

Ebola is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and can cause severe internal and external bleeding and organ failure.

The current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no approved vaccine or treatment exists. Several treatments and vaccines are being tested.

Two days before the outbreak spread to a seventh province, health officials warned that the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo urgently needed 5,000 additional healthcare workers. 

The World Health Organization said it aimed to establish 3,000 beds in Ebola treatment centers across the DRC. Luca Fontana, a senior technical official, said nearly 4,000 healthcare workers were already working in treatment centers, but another 5,000 were needed as infections continued to rise.

At the time, official Congolese figures cited by the WHO showed that Ebola had killed 3,175 people since May 15, with more than 6,600 confirmed cases. The outbreak, officially identified in mid-May, has since spread to a seventh province, underscoring concerns over the capacity of health authorities to contain the highly infectious disease.