Ebola Cases in the DRC Hit 344 Across Three Provinces as Outbreak Grows

Here's a story worth paying attention to — even if the Democratic Republic of Congo feels like it's on the other side of the world from you.

As of early June 2026, the DRC had confirmed 344 cases of Ebola across three provinces, with 60 confirmed deaths. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed those 344 cases and 60 deaths, but here's the thing — that number was already climbing fast. Within days, the DRC Ministry of Health reported 71 new confirmed cases in a single 24-hour stretch, jumping from 344 to at least 452 cases and 82 deaths. And by late June, the DRC had confirmed more than 1,000 cases, making this the second largest Ebola outbreak on record.

So what exactly is going on?

In May 2026, an epidemic of Ebola was reported in the Ituri Province of northeastern DRC — the country's 17th Ebola outbreak, and it began only five months after the previous one ended. That's a troubling pattern. Early infections are theorized to have started as far back as February 2026 in the town of Mongbwalu, with cases later spreading to North Kivu Province and Uganda's capital city of Kampala.

Here's what makes this outbreak especially tricky: it's caused by a rarer strain of Ebola called Bundibugyo (say it: Bun-dee-BOO-joh). The epidemic is caused by Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which complicates the response because existing Ebola treatments and vaccines were created for a different strain — the Zaire ebolavirus. In plain English: the tools that helped beat back previous Ebola outbreaks don't work here. There is no vaccine for Bundibugyo virus, and treatment consists only of supportive care. Previous outbreaks of this strain — in Uganda in 2007 and in the DRC in 2012 — had death rates of 32% and 55%, respectively.

The epicenter of the outbreak is the eastern province of Ituri, with cases also confirmed in North and South Kivu provinces. These are not easy places to run a health response. The outbreak is unfolding amid ongoing violence from armed groups, other health threats like malaria, and dire humanitarian needs. Even contact tracing — the basic public health tool of tracking who a sick person came into contact with — is badly compromised. The current contact follow-up rate is roughly 45 percent, when it needs to reach over 90 percent to get ahead of the outbreak, according to WHO.

It's also crossed international borders. Uganda confirmed additional cases, putting its total at 19 confirmed cases and two deaths. The outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — the WHO's highest alert level — on May 16, 2026.

Why does this matter to you personally? If you have travel plans anywhere near East or Central Africa, this is directly relevant. The CDC recommends avoiding non-essential travel to Ituri, Nord-Kivu, and Sud-Kivu provinces in DRC. The CDC and Department of Homeland Security have also implemented enhanced travel screening, with affected air passengers from DRC, South Sudan, and Uganda having their flights rerouted to arrive at one of four designated U.S. airports.

If you're not traveling, the direct risk to you is still low. No cases have been confirmed in the United States from this outbreak, and the overall risk to the American public and travelers remains low. But the speed of this outbreak — cases have risen faster than any other Ebola outbreak to date — is what's keeping global health officials up at night. The international community is rushing to respond: the U.S. announced $112 million in bilateral assistance for PPE, screening, contact tracing, and diagnostics, while the EU pledged €15 million for Ebola response and preparedness in DRC and Uganda. And vaccine developers are scrambling: the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced funding to fast-track three vaccine candidates targeting Bundibugyo ebolavirus.

The bottom line: this is a fast-moving outbreak of a rare Ebola strain with no approved vaccine, in a conflict zone where health workers can barely trace half of known contacts. The world is watching — and trying very hard to catch up.