Ebola death toll in DR Congo passes 5,000
The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 5,000, according to government data reported on 31 October 2026. BBC News The country has also recorded more than 10,300 confirmed cases, spread across 8 of its 26 provinces.
Ebola is a severe illness that is often fatal and affects humans and other primates. In this outbreak, the case fatality rate, meaning the share of confirmed cases who die, stands at 48.6%. Across Ebola outbreaks the average is around 50%, though past outbreaks have ranged from 25% to 90%.
The outbreak was declared on 15 May 2026. By August it had become the deadliest in the country's history, Reuters reported at the time. The epicentre remains in Ituri province, in the north-east of the country. The United Nations describes it as the 17th Ebola outbreak in DR Congo's history and the second largest in the world's history. The UN's figures put the previous deadliest outbreak in the country at 2,299 deaths between 2018 and 2020.
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus, and there is no treatment or vaccine yet for this strain, according to the BBC. The World Health Organization has recommended two treatments, mAb114 (ansuvimab) and REGN-EB3 (Inmazeb), for Ebola virus disease in general, and two vaccines, Ervebo and Zabdeno and Mvabea, have been approved for the disease.
Cases linked to the outbreak have also been confirmed in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda. Uganda has recorded 20 cases and two deaths since the outbreak began, with no cases reported there since August. Kenya has reported nine confirmed cases and two deaths. Kenya began preparing for a possible case in May 2026, when the outbreak was declared in DR Congo.
Health workers are also at risk. A nurse was killed and another health worker was seriously injured in an attack while responding to an Ebola alert in DR Congo earlier in the week of 31 October, according to the BBC.
Ebola spreads from person to person, but according to the WHO, a person infected with the virus cannot pass it on until symptoms appear. The incubation period, the time between infection and the first symptoms, runs from 2 to 21 days.
