KINSHASA / ABUJA — Eastern Congo’s Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has reached about 6,250 confirmed cases and 3,039 deaths across 60 health zones in six provinces since mid-May, government figures cited by Africa CDC show. Africa’s top public health agency said Thursday the outbreak has likely not yet peaked and that authorities are shifting to a village-centered approach to build trust and improve detection.
The U.S. CDC this week flagged gaps in community surveillance, contact tracing, treatment capacity, laboratory testing, and safe burials. Africa CDC estimated cases in the last three weeks should have generated about 97,600 contacts, but only 19% of that expected total have been traced. At least 63% of deaths in the past week occurred outside Ebola treatment centers.
Insecurity, displacement, and population movement in Ituri—the epicenter—and neighboring provinces continue to drive spread. Treatment centers had expanded to more than 1,300 beds by late August, with occupancy around 67%. WHO has said several Ituri facilities were saturated and that North Kivu lacked enough referral options.
The outbreak is Congo’s 17th and among the largest on record. Existing Ervebo vaccine and therapies were developed primarily for Zaire ebolavirus; Bundibugyo has no licensed specific vaccine, complicating the response even as frontline vaccination campaigns proceed under compassionate-use protocols.
Sources: AP, WHO/ReliefWeb
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