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Renewed Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo spreading toward Uganda, with strained WHO and international response
The Trump administration has barred American citizens who have recently been in the Democratic Republic of Congo from flying directly to the United States, requiring them to spend 21 days in another country before boarding a flight home.…
2026-07-14 · 4 MIN READResearchers began a clinical trial of two possible Ebola treatments on Thursday in eastern Congo, the World Health Organization said, as the Bundibugyo-strain outbreak continues to spread and has now infected more than 1,400 people.
2026-07-02 · 3 MIN READThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevated its response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to the highest level Friday, as the World Health Organization confirmed more than 1,000…
2026-06-26 · 3 MIN READThe gold-mining town of Mongbwalu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has become one of the epicenters of a worsening Ebola outbreak, with residents recounting a string of mysterious deaths and a delayed official response that allowed…
2026-06-24 · 3 MIN READKenyan Health Minister Aden Duale on Monday halted construction of a U.S.-backed Ebola quarantine facility after a High Court judge found him in contempt of court for defying an earlier order that blocked the project, officials said.
2026-06-23 · 3 MIN READThe Trump administration on Tuesday pressed European leaders to tighten travel restrictions on people arriving from Ebola-hit African countries, warning that a failure to act could lead to new U.S. travel limits on Europe — including for…
2026-06-09 · 3 MIN READNicholas Enrich, the former top U.S. official for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said in a new book and interview that political appointees blocked the agency's response to a 2025 Ebola outbreak in Uganda,…
2026-06-08 · 4 MIN READA new analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could grow to as many as 20,000 cases or more, depending on how quickly infected people are isolated to slow…
2026-06-05 · 3 MIN READHundreds of residents in central Kenya marched Monday to protest a planned U.S.-run field hospital that would treat and quarantine Americans exposed to the Ebola virus. A Kenyan court blocked the facility's opening ahead of a scheduled…
2026-06-01 · 3 MIN READThe Trump administration is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new quarantine and treatment facility in Kenya instead of flying them back to the United States, according to an administration official. The…
2026-05-27 · 4 MIN READCongolese authorities are working to stem an Ebola outbreak centered in Ituri Province, but insecurity, aid shortfalls and local anger are complicating the response. On Sunday, authorities said suspected cases in eastern Congo had passed…
2026-05-25 · 3 MIN READAttacks on Ebola treatment centers, including the storming of a hospital in Mongbwalu, are complicating the response to an outbreak that has now surpassed 900 suspected cases in eastern Congo, health authorities said Sunday.
2026-05-24 · 3 MIN READUgandan officials and residents are reacting to a recent Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo that has led to the rare Ebola virus type being tied to Bundibugyo, a district in western Uganda. The government says Uganda is not the epicenter of…
2026-05-23 · 3 MIN READSuspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo have topped 900, Congolese authorities said Sunday, amid a volatile mix of armed conflict, mass displacement and international aid cuts that continues to hobble the response to an outbreak declared a…
2026-05-24 · 4 MIN READ
Health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo say an Ebola outbreak declared May 15 has grown to more than 900 suspected cases, with 220 suspected deaths, and could spread across borders as officials investigate why it went undetected…
2026-05-24 · 3 MIN READGlobal health emergencies are back in headlines, with recent outbreaks of hantavirus on a cruise ship and Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo drawing online fear and fascination. Infectious disease experts and public health…
2026-05-21 · 3 MIN READThe World Health Organization declared a global health emergency Sunday as an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Uganda continues to grow, with more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths reported. The rare…
2026-05-17 · 4 MIN READA new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 15 people among 28 suspected cases, the country’s health minister said Thursday, marking the 16th such epidemic in the central African nation.
2026-05-17 · 3 MIN READCongo’s health ministry said Thursday that a new suspected Ebola outbreak in the central African country has left 15 people dead among 28 people showing symptoms. The ministry said a provisional report includes suspected cases in Boulapé…
2026-05-17 · 3 MIN READLa Organización Mundial de la Salud declaró el domingo el brote de ébola en la República Democrática del Congo y la vecina Uganda como una emergencia de salud pública de importancia internacional. En un anuncio, la OMS informó que se han…
2026-05-17 · 3 MIN READThe World Health Organization declared the Ebola disease outbreak in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, as the case count reached 336 suspected infections and 88 deaths. The outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo virus variant, for which no approved treatments or vaccines exist, complicating containment in a remote eastern region of Congo plagued by armed conflict and poor infrastructure.
The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak that has spread across eastern Congo and into Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, after more than 330 suspected cases and nearly 90 deaths were linked to a rare, untreatable variant of the virus.
Africa's top public health body on Friday confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo's remote Ituri province, with 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths recorded so far. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak is centered in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones and that four of the deaths have been laboratory-confirmed. Uganda later reported its first death from an imported Ebola case involving a Congolese man who died in Kampala.
At least 87 people have died in a new Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, health officials said Saturday, as the disease spread to three health zones and neighboring Uganda confirmed its first imported case.
Félicien Kabuga, a suspect accused of bankrolling the 1994 Rwandan genocide, died Thursday in a hospital in The Hague while in custody, a U.N. court said. He was in his 90s and had been in legal limbo since 2023 after judges ruled he was not fit to stand trial.
Congo’s Ebola outbreak in the eastern province of Ituri has killed at least 87 people, the Africa CDC said, warning of “active community transmission” as health teams expand screening and contact tracing. The deaths are concentrated in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, with four fatalities reported among confirmed cases, officials said.
Africa’s public health agency confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo’s remote Ituri province on May 15, with 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths recorded so far. The African Union’s Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the deaths occurred mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, and that laboratory confirmation has been completed for four of the deaths.
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have reported a new Ebola outbreak, with more than 300 suspected cases and at least 88 deaths, and the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday. Ebola is often fatal, and it spreads through contact with bodily fluids, or contaminated surfaces. The WHO says the current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rarer Ebola strain.
The World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern for an Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda, warning the response needs urgent scale-up. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention first confirmed the outbreak in Congo’s Ituri province on Friday and said by Saturday there were 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in Congo and neighboring Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths were reported. WHO said a laboratory-confirmed case has also been detected in Kinshasa, suggesting wider spread, and warned against closing international borders.
French authorities allowed passengers unaffected by a norovirus outbreak on the British cruise ship Ambition to disembark in Bordeaux, while others remained on board, according to the operator and French health officials. The ship had been ordered to keep more than 1,700 passengers and crew aboard before authorities later changed course.
KINSHASA, Congo — Micheline Nzonzi rocks a drowsy year-old bonobo, one of dozens of orphaned apes whose survival depends on human caregivers at the only sanctuary of its kind in the world. For 24 years, Nzonzi has been a foster mother at Lola Ya Bonobo, a nursery on the forested outskirts of Kinshasa where infant bonobos rescued from poachers and illegal pet traders receive the maternal care they need after their mothers are killed for bushmeat.
Kinshasa, Congo — At the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary on the forested outskirts of Kinshasa, Micheline Nzonzi has been fostering an orphaned 1-year-old bonobo for about three years, a period the sanctuary says is crucial for the animal’s survival and eventual transition to a larger group. The sanctuary says bonobos are legally protected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but are still taken for bushmeat, including when infants are rescued from poachers or raised by local families for meat.
NANYUKI, Kenya — With fewer than 100 mountain bongos left in the wild, a conservancy on the slopes of Mount Kenya is working to breed and reintroduce the critically endangered antelope, aiming for a population of 750 by 2050.
Festus Mogae, Botswana’s former president who made the fight against HIV/AIDS a national priority, has died at 86, the government announced Friday. No cause of death was given. Mogae led the diamond-rich southern African nation from 1998 to 2008, during which time he launched free access to antiretroviral drugs — a policy credited with dramatically reducing the country’s HIV/AIDS prevalence — and later won the 2008 Ibrahim Prize for African leadership.
NANYUKI, Kenya — Conservationists in Kenya are slowly reintroducing the mountain bongo, a critically endangered antelope, back into the wild, aiming to grow the population of a species with fewer than 100 animals left in its natural range. The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy said it recently imported four male bongos that will be quarantined and monitored before breeding with descendants of earlier animals.
Botswana’s government said Festus Mogae, the former president who prioritized fighting HIV and AIDS during his 1998-2008 tenure, has died at age 86. Botswana President Duma Boko announced three days of national mourning and praised Mogae’s economic management and democratic record. (Sello Motseta)
A suspected outbreak of hantavirus on the MV Hondius, a cruise ship sailing in remote parts of the South Atlantic and beyond, unfolded over weeks before infections were confirmed in South Africa and Switzerland, the World Health Organization and the cruise operator said. Three passengers have died, one is in intensive care in South Africa, and three others were evacuated as the ship traveled from Cape Verde toward Spain’s Canary Islands.
Un crucero holandés con unas 150 personas a bordo esperaba ayuda frente a la costa de Cabo Verde en el océano Atlántico el lunes, después de que tres pasajeros murieran y otras tres personas quedaran gravemente enfermas en un presunto brote de hantavirus, informó la Organización Mundial de la Salud y el operador del barco. El Ministerio de Salud de Cabo Verde dijo que, por ahora, no permitiría que la nave atracara por preocupaciones de salud pública.
The World Health Organization said Sunday that an investigation is under way into a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean that killed three people and sickened at least three others. South Africa’s Department of Health said the cruise vessel, the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, was off the coast of Cape Verde and that one patient was in intensive care in Johannesburg while authorities worked to evacuate two symptomatic crew members.
Four critically endangered mountain bongos arrived in Kenya from the Czech Republic on April 29, the Kenyan government said, as part of efforts to restore the antelopes to native forests. The animals were received at Kenya’s main airport by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano before being moved to a wildlife conservancy for quarantine and acclimatization.
In Congo, some people are pointing to the Kimbanguist Church’s message and history as a possible guide as the country faces instability driven by a violent rebellion in the east, the Associated Press reported. The church traces its origins to Simon Kimbangu, who spent decades in prison and died a prisoner, after Belgian colonial authorities judged his activities dangerous. In Kinshasa and beyond, adherents mark April 6, known as Kimbangu Day, and some say his legacy shows how sacrifice and African independence can endure.
Congo’s Health Minister Roger Kamba said the country has ended a two-year mpox outbreak and that it is no longer a national emergency. Congo declared the end on April 2, after the outbreak was linked to more than 2,200 suspected deaths. The World Health Organization ended a global health emergency declaration for mpox in September.
Rebels affiliated with the Islamic State group killed at least 43 people in eastern Congo in an attack late Wednesday, officials said April 2. The civilians were killed in Bafwakoa village, where fighters linked to the Allied Democratic Forces set homes on fire, according to a civil society member and Congo military officials. Congo’s military said 43 people were killed, while local officials put the toll at least 56 and said several people were missing and at least two were taken hostage.
UN acting envoy for Congo Vivian van de Perre warned the U.N. Security Council that fighting in mineral-rich eastern Congo is expanding and growing more dangerous, including increasing use of heavy weapons and offensive drones. She said renewed hostilities have intensified clashes between M23 and Congolese army forces in North Kivu and South Kivu and have shifted front lines toward Burundi’s border.
An explosion in Nigeria’s north-central Kwara state has killed at least one person and injured an unspecified number of people, police said Monday. The blast was believed to be an improvised explosive device in a village near Woro in the Kaiama district, where a commercial vehicle was traveling toward Niger state.
Ugandan wildlife authorities reintroduced two southern white rhinos to Kidepo Valley National Park, where rhinos have been extinct since 1983 due to poaching. Officials said two additional rhinos arrived in metallic crates later this week, as part of a wider conservation effort backed by partners including Global Conservation.
Belgian court ordered the trial of 93-year-old former diplomat Etienne Davignon for his alleged role in the 1961 killing of Congo independence icon Patrice Lumumba, AP reported March 17, citing Belgian media. The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office charged Davignon with “participation in war crimes,” alleging he was involved in Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer.”
Congo’s government and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels accused each other on Friday of violating a ceasefire aimed at ending fighting in eastern Congo and enabling lasting peace. Recent drone strikes and clashes around Goma have raised doubts about both a ceasefire track and a separate minerals deal involving the U.S. Trump administration.
A mine collapse at the Rubaya coltan site in eastern Congo left at least 200 people dead, Congolese authorities said. The M23 rebel group that controls the mine disputed the toll, saying only five people were killed and blaming the deaths on “bombings.”
Congolese authorities and a civil society group said they found two mass grave sites in areas of Uvira in eastern Congo that M23 rebels have withdrawn from. South-Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi said the graves contain at least 171 dead bodies in the Kiromoni and Kavimvira neighborhoods.
Preventive cholera vaccination programs will restart globally after nearly four years of pause caused by a vaccine shortage, the World Health Organization said Feb. 4. WHO, the vaccine alliance Gavi and UNICEF said improved stocks in the global oral cholera vaccine stockpile now allow a first allocation of 20 million doses, including deliveries planned for Mozambique, Congo and Bangladesh.
A deadly car crash in Nigeria involving former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and multiple minibus accidents in South Africa in recent days have underscored Africa’s weak road safety record. The continent has the world’s highest road fatality rate despite having only about 3% of the world’s vehicles, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa.
