{"id":34615,"date":"2026-05-16T08:54:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34615"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:55:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:55:59","slug":"drc-confirms-new-ebola-outbreak-80-deaths","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/drc-confirms-new-ebola-outbreak-80-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"DRC confirms new Ebola outbreak, 80 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Eighty people have died in a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s (DRC) eastern Ituri province, the country\u2019s health ministry said \u200blate on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba said in a statement that samples tested on Thursday had confirmed eight cases of the Bundibugyo \u200cstrain of the Ebola virus in the health zones of Rwampara, Mongwalu and Bunia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">So far there have been 246 suspected cases of the virus, the Ministry said. The suspected index case was a nurse who died at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia after showing symptoms that included fever, bleeding, vomiting and severe weakness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The DRC government said it has activated its public health emergency operations centre, strengthened epidemiological \u200band laboratory surveillance, and ordered the rapid deployment of response teams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Africa\u2019s top public health agency said earlier on Friday there was a confirmed Ebola outbreak in\u00a0\u200bDRC\u2019s Ituri province, giving the death toll as 65 so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention said in a statement \u2060it was convening an urgent meeting with the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and global partners to reinforce cross-border surveillance, preparedness and response efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">It said the deaths and suspected cases had\u00a0\u200bbeen reported mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, while four deaths were reported among laboratory-confirmed cases. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, the provincial capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The agency\u00a0\u200bsaid initial findings suggested the presence of a non-Zaire strain of the virus, with sequencing ongoing to further characterise it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the DRC virologist who co-discovered Ebola and heads the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, told\u00a0<i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0that all but one of the DRC&#8217;s 16 previous outbreaks had been caused by the Zaire strain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The identification of a different variant will complicate the response, he said, as existing\u00a0\u200btreatments and vaccines were developed against the Zaire strain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cAfrica CDC is concerned about the risk of further spread due to the urban context of Bunia and Rwampara\u201d as well\u00a0\u200bas \u201cintense population movement\u201d and mobility related to mining in the affected areas, which are close to Uganda and South Sudan, the agency added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cGiven the high population movement between affected areas and neighbouring \u200ccountries, rapid regional\u00a0\u2060coordination is essential,\u201d Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said in the statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Uganda\u2019s Health Ministry said a DRC man had died in Kampala of the Bundibugyo virus strain. Uganda said the case was imported from DRC and that no local case had been confirmed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34548,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-34615","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"So far there have been 246 suspected cases of the virus, the Ministry said.","published_date":"","news_description":"So far there have been 246 suspected cases of the virus, the Ministry said.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34618,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34615\/revisions\/34618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}