Madar (Kinshasa) - Deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak have passed 5,000, according to the latest Congolese health ministry data released on Saturday, October 31, 2026, Africanews reported, citing AP.
The data show the disease has killed 5,026 people out of 10,351 infected, a lethality rate of nearly 50 percent, while 2,788 people have recovered. There is no known vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo virus behind the outbreak, and health workers treat patients according to their symptoms.
Declared in mid-May, the outbreak is already the second deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic that killed 11,000 people across several countries.
"It is a very tragic milestone because it is just not a number," said Dr Patrick Otim, a programme area manager with the World Health Organization. "It is families and communities that have been devastated by this outbreak."
Since May, the disease has spread to 67 of the country's 178 health zones in eight of its 26 provinces, 50 of which still have active cases. The virus is concentrated in the east, especially Ituri and North Kivu, the epicentres, with 9,782 confirmed cases and 4,792 deaths.
Authorities are still struggling with contact tracing and testing. According to Africa CDC, about 80 percent of new cases come from outside monitored chains of contacts, and Otim said one-third of recorded deaths occurred outside treatment centres, before the victims were tested.
