Ebola spreads to two new zones in DRC; 60 areas now affected

By AFP and AP. Published On 28 Aug 202628 Aug 2026.

Key points

• MSF at present has 1, 400 staff in DRC supporting the response, ‌and operates ‌treatment centres with a total of 400 beds.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned on Thursday that Ebola is spreading faster than efforts to contain it.
• The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fastest-spreading Ebola epidemic ever recorded, he remarked in a post on US social media business X.
• There is no approved vaccine or treatment for this particular strain of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo.
• According to Aid workers have, a shortage of bed capacity is one of the factors hampering the response to the outbreak.

For context, the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak in history has reached two new health zones in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with a total of 60 areas now affected, according to the latest administration figures.

Notably, the two new zones affected are Biena and Manguredjipa in DRC's North Kivu province, where the fatality rate is much higher than the overall rate of 48 percent, partly due to delayed response efforts, according to data by the Ministry of Health published on Friday.

For context, the ministry remarked the outbreak in DRC has recorded 5, 794 confirmed cases, including 2, 786 deaths, and is spreading at an unprecedented speed – faster than efforts to track and slow it.

Efforts to contain the outbreak have been hampered by armed conflict in the affected provinces, displacement, attacks on medical personnel and facilities, a mobile working population, and a lack of critical infrastructure.

Notably, the outbreak is now on track to surpass the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record – the 2014 to 2016 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11, 000 individuals.

Meanwhile, aid group Doctors Without Borders – known by its French acronym MSF – remarked on Friday it had opened a new treatment centre in Beni in North Kivu in the country's northeast to enable a faster response in what it stated was one of the hardest-hit areas.

Beni has recorded 122 confirmed cases and 87 deaths since the start of the outbreak in mid-May, with an Ebola fatality rate of close to 69 percent, one of the highest in the country, according to the latest administration figures.

According to Aid workers have, a shortage of bed capacity is one of the factors hampering the response to the outbreak. The new centre "enables the rapid treatment of patients, strengthens contact tracing and supports the health authorities in their efforts to contain the spread of the virus, " MSF remarked in an official note.

There is no approved vaccine or treatment for this particular strain of Ebola, known as Bundibugyo. It is rarer than the virus type behind most past outbreaks. This means that relief workers are more reliant on traditional methods like tracing contacts and ⁠isolating patients to try to control ⁠its spread.

"Early diagnosis and treatment as soon as the first symptoms appear significantly increase people's chances of survival, whilst reducing the risk of transmission ‌ within families and communities, " MSF emergency coordinator Albert Stern remarked.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fastest-spreading Ebola epidemic ever recorded, he remarked in a post on US social media business X. It's growing faster and wider than the response to contain it.

"We know how to contain Ebola and save lives. The world must urgently step up action to obtain it under control."

For now, ebola spreads to two new zones in DRC; 60 areas now affected remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.