Ebola outbreak spreads in Congo as deaths exceeds 2,500

The Ebola outbreak ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo has crossed another grim threshold, with more than 2,500 people now dead as the virus continues to spread at a pace the international response is struggling to match.

Julien Harneis, the United Nations' senior Ebola coordinator, issued the warning on Friday from the northeastern city of Bunia, describing the epidemic as “growing exponentially” and urging an immediate injection of resources.

The latest figures represent a dramatic acceleration from the situation reported by the World Health Organisation just days earlier. WHO recorded 2,128 deaths among 4,566 confirmed cases as of August 13, with the outbreak spread across six provinces. Its latest rapid risk assessment, published on August 20, classified the risk as very high inside the DRC and high for neighbouring countries. 

Harneis said the epidemic was now expanding across territory larger than France, while the humanitarian response was falling increasingly behind.

“The Ebola outbreak is growing exponentially.”

He added: “The epidemic is spreading to an area that is bigger than France, and the outbreak is growing faster and wider than the Ebola response. And all of this is happening in an area that has had three decades of conflict and is generating huge humanitarian needs.”

Health workers becoming victims

The outbreak is not only overwhelming communities; it is also taking a heavy toll on the people trying to contain it.

Harneis said approximately 160 healthcare workers have contracted Ebola and 43 have died.

Frontline teams are also facing hostility from frightened communities, with ambulances attacked and medical facilities targeted.

“And then, when we do respond, apart from the threat from the virus, healthcare workers and frontline workers have been attacked by youths, ambulances have been burned and stoned, and the healthcare facilities have been attacked.”

He explained the psychology behind the violence:

“Fear translates into angry young men who start throwing stones at their object of fear, the ambulance.”

Reuters reported that more than 260 attacks against health workers have been recorded over the past six months, with eight health workers killed in those attacks. 

Misinformation has made the response even more difficult. Some residents have reportedly dismissed Ebola as a hoax, while restrictions surrounding burials have fuelled anger among families who want to handle the bodies of loved ones according to local traditions.

A strain without an approved vaccine

The current outbreak is being driven by the Bundibugyo virus, a species of Ebola for which there is currently no licensed vaccine or specific approved treatment. WHO says the outbreak was first detected in May and has since expanded rapidly from Ituri into five additional provinces. 

The outbreak has already overtaken the previous deadliest Ebola epidemic in the country's history—the 2018-2020 outbreak, which killed 2,299 people.

And the speed of transmission is particularly alarming.

Reuters reported that more than half of the 2,500-plus deaths recorded so far occurred within just 20 days, underscoring the extraordinary acceleration of the epidemic. 

The World Health Organisation has warned that the outbreak could become the world's largest Ebola epidemic if transmission is not brought under control. 

Aid pipeline running dry

Harneis said the response is facing another threat that cannot be treated in a laboratory: money.

An existing pool of emergency funding is expected to run out within weeks, leaving humanitarian agencies scrambling to maintain operations at precisely the moment the outbreak is expanding fastest.

Years of cuts to international aid have already weakened the capacity of humanitarian organisations operating in the DRC.

Even paying workers has become a problem.

Commercial flights were suspended by the government, disrupting the movement of physical cash into banks and making it difficult to pay the tens of thousands of people involved in the Ebola response.

The result is a dangerous combination: a rapidly spreading virus, a fragile healthcare system, insecurity, misinformation and dwindling resources.

International response intensifies

There are nevertheless signs that the international community is attempting to catch up.

On August 20, WHO and partners announced plans to send 70,000 doses of Merck's Ervebo vaccine to the DRC. The vaccine is licensed against a different Ebola species, not Bundibugyo, but researchers are testing whether it can provide protection against the current virus. Of the doses, 20,000 are intended for a Phase 3 clinical trial, while 50,000 are earmarked for frontline and healthcare workers. 

WHO's latest assessment says imported cases have already been detected in Uganda, France and Germany, although there is currently no sustained transmission outside the DRC. 

That makes the crisis bigger than Congo's borders.

For Harneis, the immediate concern is that the world is watching an epidemic outrun the machinery built to stop it.

The warning is stark: the virus is moving faster, wider and deeper than the response—and without urgent funding and stronger community cooperation, the gap could become catastrophic.