An ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to a sixth province, Bas-Uele, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Declared on May 15, the outbreak has recorded 4,566 confirmed cases and 2,128 deaths, raising severe regional concerns as cases sit close to the South Sudanese border.
Bas-Uele Province Records First Fatality
The virus reached northern Bas-Uele province after a patient travelled from neighboring Haut-Uele, according to Jean Kaseya, head of Africa CDC. The current epidemic is the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak and began in the northeastern province of Ituri. Authorities report that the disease is spreading at an unprecedented rate across the central African nation. Data from Africa CDC shows that three months into this outbreak, officials recorded seven times more cases and five times more deaths than during the first three months of the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic.
Cross-Border Spread Risks and Humanitarian Challenges
The Mercy Corps NGO warned that confirmed cases are now sitting just 35 kilometers from the South Sudan border along high-risk travel corridors. Response efforts face major hurdles, including stretched health services, insufficient clean water, safe toilets, fragile community trust, and ongoing insecurity, according to Mercy Corps. In North Kivu and South Kivu, response teams must operate across front lines dividing the Congolese army and the anti-government M23 armed group backed by Rwanda.
Response Operations and Comparative Impact
Community deaths account for 75% of all fatalities in the DRC, driven partly by exhaustion and hostility faced by burial teams, according to World Health Organization reports. The World Health Organization stated that it hopes to reverse the spread of Ebola in the DRC within three months, despite staff shortages and funding challenges hampering operations. By comparison, the DRC’s deadliest recorded Ebola outbreak between 2018 and 2020 resulted in nearly 2,300 deaths out of 3,500 recorded cases. Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes a severe hemorrhagic fever, having claimed more than 15,000 lives across Africa over the past 50 years.
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