EBOLA RESPONSE EXPANDS AS CONGO OUTBREAK OUTPACES AID

Aid group Samaritan’s Purse plans to open a 50-bed Ebola treatment centre within a week in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak is spreading faster than response teams can contain it. Reuters reported that the centre is planned for Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, and that supplies including generators and air conditioners are being moved into the area to support patients and fully protected medical staff.

The expansion comes as health officials warn the response remains badly stretched. Reuters reported Wednesday that the outbreak has reached at least 900 suspected cases and 220 suspected deaths, with confirmed spread into Uganda. Response teams are dealing with supply shortages, limited contact tracing, health-worker infections, and attacks on medical facilities in affected areas.

The virus involved is Bundibugyo, a rarer Ebola strain for which there is no licensed vaccine or specific approved treatment. WHO says earlier Bundibugyo outbreaks have had case fatality rates ranging from 30% to 50%, and that early supportive care can save lives even without a strain-specific vaccine or therapeutic.

Security and trust are now central to containment. The Guardian reported that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for a ceasefire in eastern Congo so responders can reach affected communities safely. The same report said violence around facilities has caused patients to flee, including from a hospital in Mongbwalu, while attacks on treatment sites and disputes over safe burials have weakened the response.

Mistrust is also slowing the response. Le Monde reported that some residents in affected areas believe Ebola was created by Westerners or is being exaggerated for financial gain, and that crowds have attacked medics and disrupted burial procedures. The report linked that distrust to misinformation, mourning traditions, and the memory of attacks on health workers during earlier Ebola outbreaks.

Uganda has now tightened its own response. AP reported that Uganda closed its border with Congo for four weeks after cases rose, while still allowing emergency travel under strict isolation rules. WHO has warned that border closures can push people toward unmonitored crossings, which may make transmission harder to track rather than easier.

The challenge for responders is that treatment capacity, public trust, security, and surveillance all have to improve at the same time. A 50-bed treatment unit can help stabilize care in Bunia, but it does not solve the wider response gap if patients avoid clinics, contacts are not traced, health facilities are attacked, or suspected cases cross borders outside monitored channels.

For Congo, Uganda, and global health agencies, the immediate question is whether the response can catch up before the outbreak spreads further through conflict-affected communities. Without faster treatment access, safer facilities, reliable supplies, and stronger community cooperation, the outbreak could remain medically containable in theory while becoming much harder to control in practice.

Fact-check date: 27 May 2026
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, WHO, The Guardian, Le Monde

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