The World Health Organization’s director general also said, ‘The epidemic is outpacing us.’
The coffin of a person suspected of having died from Ebola is tied onto a pick up truck by health workers at a hospital in Bunia, Congo, on May 25, 2026. Glody Murhbazi/AFP via Getty Images
The Ebola outbreak in Africa could become the deadliest in history because it is spreading faster than responders can deal with it, an aid group stated on May 26.
Officials failed to initially detect the outbreak because of a lack of testing sufficient to identify the Bundibugyo virus, a rarer type of virus that causes Ebola. The outbreak is centered in the Ituri Province in Congo (DRC), where fighting regularly displaces people from their homes and hospitals.
“The initial failure to detect this outbreak has allowed it to spread to several areas of Ituri province in northeast DRC, where the first cases were identified, as well as to North Kivu (just to the south of Ituri) and South Kivu provinces, and now Uganda,” the International Rescue Committee, one of the aid groups on the ground, stated in a report published on May 26.
With cases reported in key population centers such as Goma, the capital of North Kivu, and Kampala, Uganda, there is a significant risk of onward spread of the disease, the group assessed.
“The warning signs are flashing red,” Bob Kitchen, vice president of emergencies for the group, said in a statement. “Eastern DRC is confronting this outbreak more fragile and less prepared than during the 2018–2020 outbreak that killed more than 2,000 people—and with fewer resources to fight it. Increased conflict and cuts to global aid funding have dismantled defenses at exactly the wrong moment.”
The outbreak has risen to 101 confirmed cases, about 220 suspected deaths, and more than 900 suspected cases, about one month after the outbreak was first detected. Other countries, such as Rwanda and the United States, have restricted travel from people who have been in Congo or intensified border checks.
“The delay in detecting the outbreak means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’s director general, told a meeting of African ministers on May 25. “We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us.”
There are no vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus. Containment efforts include widespread testing, isolating patients, and monitoring people exposed to known or suspected cases.
Ghebreyesus said working with the governments of Congo and Uganda and other partners would be key to stopping the outbreak. Governments and other entities on May 25 pledged about $500 million to ramp up efforts to respond to and prevent further spread of the outbreak, Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a post on X.
Technicians install beds and other equipment inside the isolation area for suspected cases at CBCA Virunga Hospital during rehabilitation work aimed at preparing the facility to receive potential Ebola cases in Goma, Congo, on May 22, 2026. Jospin Mwisha/AFP via Getty Images
The International Rescue Committee, which is based in New York, recommended several steps, including relaxing restrictions on the importation of personal protective equipment such as masks and quickly donating funds to central Africa to support health workers and others.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, another aid group with personnel in Congo, has called for increased funding to expand surveillance and deploy more teams to help locals safely bury Ebola victims.
Patrick Muyaya, a Congolese government spokesman, said in a May 25 post on X that the epidemic was “well contained” in the Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces.
“Every day, response teams are being strengthened and surveillance is being intensified,” he wrote. “We have the experience and expertise to contain this outbreak.”