Ebola outbreak spreads to sixth province in DR Congo

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to a sixth province, Bas-Uele, following the death of a motorcycle taxi driver who traveled from Haut-Uele. This expansion raises significant concerns regarding wider transmission, as the deceased individual visited multiple health facilities and local efforts to retrieve his body prompted police intervention.

According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the outbreak is spreading at an unprecedented rate. Data indicates that within the first three months, the DRC recorded seven times more cases and five times more deaths than the initial three months of the historic 2014 West African outbreak. To date, the outbreak has resulted in 4,566 confirmed cases and 2,128 deaths, making it the second-largest on record.

Health officials and NGOs, including Mercy Corps, have warned of the potential for the virus to spill over into neighboring South Sudan. While the World Health Organization expressed hope to reverse the spread within three months, the current scale of the epidemic threatens to make it the deadliest in the country’s history.