World Health Organization declares Ebola outbreak in Congo a global health emergency

Ambulances are parked outside a hospital in Bunia, Congo, Saturday, May 16, 2026. Constant Same Bagalwa/AP

Constant Same Bagalwa/AP

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday.

However WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in a statement it "does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency" and advised countries against closing their borders.

The outbreak was first reported in the DRC's eastern Ituri province on Friday and there are already hundreds of suspected cases, including one that crossed the border into Uganda. The latest strain of the virus has no vaccine either, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ebola is transmitted through blood and other bodily fluid as well as contaminated surfaces. Symptoms include fever, body pain, weakness, vomiting "and, in some cases, bleeding," according to the WHO.

Health officials believe the outbreak started in late April, Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, said during a Saturday press conference conducted by video call. There are now 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths, he said.

Cases so far have been mostly detected in two mining towns, called Mongwalu and Rwampara, where many people come and go for work. "We are talking about a region that is a very vulnerable and fragile region," said Kaseya.

On May 14, a 59-year-old Congolese man died from the virus in Kampala, the capital of neighboring Uganda.

In his remarks Saturday, Kaseya outlined how many people the man was likely in contact with before his death, and the importance of using protective equipment.

"Someone came from DRC, landed in Uganda, went to hospital," he said. "He was sick in this community and he was surrounded by a number of people. He took public transportation to Uganda." The man died in the hospital but his body was then transported back across the border to the DRC for burial, Kaseya said.