The Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded 710 confirmed Ebola cases, with 149 deaths, as per the country’s health ministry. The case fatality rate stands at 21.0 percent, with 324 patients in isolation or hospitalized and 35 recoveries. Efforts by the government, response partners, and local communities continue to focus on public health interventions to halt transmission and safeguard the population.
Response teams are actively engaged in various activities such as epidemiological surveillance, patient care, contact tracing, targeted vaccination, and risk communication. The ministry clarified that there is no nationwide lockdown in place due to the outbreak and urged the public to rely on official sources for information. The World Health Organization noted a rapid evolution of the outbreak in the DRC, with increasing cases and spread across regions.
Operational challenges persist, including issues like reluctance for post-mortem swabbing, limited capacity in treatment centers, and shortages of infection control materials. The outbreak, declared on May 15, marks the country’s 17th Ebola outbreak since its discovery in 1976. Notably, two Ebola-related deaths were reported in a camp for internally displaced persons in Ituri.
