WHO raises Ebola risk in Congo to ‘very high' as outbreak worsens

GENEVA - The head of the World Health Organization warned Friday that Ebola infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo are escalating rapidly and now pose a "very high" risk to the Central African country.

At least 177 people are believed to have died in the outbreak in Congo, while the number of suspected cases has climbed to nearly 750, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

"But we know the epidemic in DRC is much larger," he said, noting that not all cases in the country are being recorded and reported.

The figures have risen sharply in recent days. On Wednesday, the WHO said more than 130 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases had been recorded.

Given the "rapidly" growing number of infections in Congo, the WHO is "revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at the global level," Tedros said.

The WHO had previously assessed the risk as "high" at both the national and regional levels, while maintaining a "low" risk assessment globally.

Tedros said the situation in neighbouring Uganda was "stable," with two confirmed cases involving people who had crossed the border from Congo. One of them died.

According to the African health authority Africa CDC, the outbreak began in Congo's north-eastern Ituri province, a remote area with poor road networks bordering Uganda and South Sudan. It is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976.

The spread of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is neither a vaccine nor a treatment, has made the situation particularly difficult.

The WHO said there had previously been only two outbreaks involving the Bundibugyo strain - in Uganda in 2007 and in Congo in 2012.

Tedros also said the response was being complicated by the fact that the outbreak was unfolding in a "highly insecure" area, with intense fighting in recent months displacing more than 100,000 people.

"There is also significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population," he said, noting that tents and medical supplies were set on fire at a hospital in Ituri on Thursday.

Ebola is a highly contagious and life-threatening disease transmitted through physical contact and exposure to bodily fluids.

More than 11,000 people died during the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 1:06 PM.