Key points
- On May 15, 2026, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)'s Ministry of Public Health declared an Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus. Two days later, CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center as part of the U.S. government response.
- By August 21, 2026, DRC had reported 5,458 confirmed cases and 2,606 confirmed deaths (48%) — now the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. The growth is unprecedented: about 5,000 cases in 100 days.
- Nearly all response indicators were below target, and the outbreak was still expanding rapidly.
Where
Cases had been reported in six of DRC's 26 provinces — Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tshopo — affecting 57 of the 151 health zones in those provinces. Ituri is the epicenter, with 84% of cases.
What controls an Ebola outbreak
- community-based surveillance;
- case detection alerts, raised for anyone with a fever that doesn't respond to treatment for the usual local causes, anyone with bleeding, bloody diarrhea or blood in the urine, and any sudden death;
- rapid, in-depth case investigation, and finding and monitoring contacts;
- infection control, including prompt isolation of anyone with suspected or confirmed disease;
- rapid diagnostic testing and mortality surveillance;
- safe and dignified burials: trained staff prepare, move and bury the body with infection control, while respecting the dignity of the person who died and — as far as it can be done safely — the family's and community's cultural, religious and personal wishes.
How the response measures up
CDC tracks indicators in five domains, built from past outbreaks including DRC's 2018 outbreak, using the ministry's public daily situation reports. The targets are the levels needed to end an outbreak. Figures are averages for the three weeks from July 31 to August 21, 2026, unless noted.
| Domain | Indicator | Target | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case detection | alerts investigated within 24 hours | >90% | 83% (last reported August 5) |
| Contact tracing | contacts identified per case | ≥20 | 10.6 |
| daily contact tracing completeness | >95% | 82% | |
| new cases who were known contacts | >90% | 15%–20% (last reported July 12) | |
| Laboratory testing | validated alerts tested | >90% | 72% |
| tests positive | 0% | 24% | |
| Isolation | treatment-unit beds occupied | <80% | 64% nationally — but as high as 140% in some facilities |
| confirmed cases isolated within 24 hours | >90% | no current data | |
| Safe burials | confirmed deaths outside a treatment unit | 0% | 59% |
| affected health zones with a burial team | 100% | 49% | |
| deaths given a safe burial | 100% | no data |
What the numbers suggest:
- Missed contacts: too few contacts per case suggests underreporting, and with so few new cases coming from known contacts, most are arising outside known chains of transmission.
- Deaths outside treatment units: more than half point to too few beds, fear of the units, and spread through unidentified chains. Some facilities can't isolate everyone who is infected.
- Untested cases: many suspected cases remain untested.
- Data gaps: current figures are missing for key indicators, such as prompt isolation and safe burials.
Why it's hard
The response is complicated by a long, complex humanitarian emergency in eastern DRC: armed conflict, limited health infrastructure, displacement and movement of people, and limited access to affected communities. Together, the gaps, the outbreak's continuing geographic spread, the high share of deaths outside treatment units and the few cases among known contacts point to uncontrolled expansion.
What's needed
Containing the outbreak takes at least five areas working together:
- more community-based surveillance, with rapid investigation of alerts;
- more complete and timely contact tracing;
- more treatment and isolation capacity in affected health zones;
- more laboratory testing, so cases are identified promptly;
- safe and dignified burials in every affected health zone.
Good data at the health zone level lets local teams make timely decisions, and CDC's continued support to the ministry and partners in collecting it is critical. Faster international humanitarian coordination, and global technical and operational support, are critical to speeding up the response.
Sources
Based on Dumazedier Kabasele, Erika Meyer, Issaka Kabore and colleagues (CDC 2026 Ebola Response), "Notes from the Field: Characteristics and Monitoring of the 2026 Outbreak of Ebola Disease Caused by Bundibugyo Virus — Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 2026," MMWR, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as corrected; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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