65 deaths reported in Congo Ebola outbreak

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Laboratory tests have confirmed that four people died of the deadly Ebola virus in Congo, health authorities said Friday, adding that there had been 65 reported fatalities in total in the country.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, reported that the confirmed fatalities were recorded in Ituri province, which borders Uganda and South Sudan in the northeast of the country.

A total of 13 cases of Ebola have so far been confirmed by a laboratory in Kinshasa, according to the CDC.

"About 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have been reported," the CDC said.

"When it starts like this, it's usually disastrous," said Maximilian Gertler, a tropical medicine specialist at Berlin's Charité hospital who has himself been deployed on several occasions during Ebola outbreaks.

With nearly 250 suspected cases, the outbreak must have been spreading undetected for months if the figures are confirmed, he said. "It likely originated in a very remote area."

Uganda on Friday also reported a first confirmed Ebola case linked to the outbreak. A 59-year-old Congolese man died in a hospital in the capital Kampala on May 14, according to Ugandan health authorities.

The rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus was detected in the patient. No local transmission has so far been confirmed, and Ugandan authorities said they had stepped up border controls, isolated contacts and activated emergency response teams.

Sequencing results to further characterize the strain are expected within the next 24 hours, according to the CDC.

Ebola is a contagious and life-threatening infectious disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with bodily fluids.

The WHO received initial reports on potential cases on May 5, the U.N. organization's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference in Geneva, adding that initial test results had been negative.

The WHO is providing $555,000 for immediate measures to deal with the outbreak, Tedros said, adding that contact tracing, prevention measures and laboratory capacity must be stepped up.

An urgent coordination meeting with health authorities from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, as well as international health organizations, has been convened, the Africa CDC said.

As the most recent outbreak has been detected in an urban border region with heavy population movement, the health authority expressed concern about the risk of the virus spreading further.

"This naturally increases the transmission rate," WHO Africa director Mohamed Yakub Janabi also said, adding that reaching the region some 1,700 kilometres from Kinshasa would be challenging.

According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute, the Ebola mortality rate can be as high as 90% if infected individuals are not treated immediately.

More than 11,000 people died during an outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015.

The most recent Ebola cases in Congo were reported in September when 45 people died in the province of Kasaï in the southwest of the country during what was the 16th Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976.

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 7:41 PM.