DR Congo: Health officials arrive in Bunia with Ebola supplies

The health minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Sunday that authorities had already selected sites in Rwampara and Mongwalu to establish new treatment centers and that dozens of patients were receiving active care.

Samuel Roger Kamba was speaking in Bunia where he arrived to check the setting up of treatment areas.

"This morning, we brought all the tents in order to set up the treatment centers," he told media. "We know that the hospitals are already under stress because of the patients. I would like to inform the population here that we have 59 patients who are currently being actively cared for. But we are preparing to have treatment centers at all three sites in order to be able to expand our capabilities."

Health officials in Bunia, one of the main cities affected by the outbreak in eastern DRC’s Ituri province, said treatment centers were being expanded as hospitals struggled to cope with the growing number of patients.

The measures follow the decision of the World Health Organization to declare an Ebola outbreak caused by a rare virus strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths.

WHO said the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like COVID-19 and advised against closing international borders.

The earliest known suspected case involved a 59-year-old man who developed symptoms on April 24 and died at a hospital in Ituri province on April 27.

By the time health authorities were first alerted to the outbreak through social media reports on May 5, 50 deaths had already been recorded, according to Africa CDC.

The World Health Organization said at least four healthcare workers showing Ebola symptoms had also died.

WHO representative Anne Ancia said additional medical supplies were being airlifted into the country after emergency stockpiles in Kinshasa were depleted during the initial response. She said a C-130 cargo plane loaded with equipment was being prepared in Nairobi before heading to the DRC.

WHO said on X that a laboratory-confirmed case had also been reported in the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the outbreak’s epicenter in Ituri province, suggesting possible wider spread. The patient had traveled from Ituri, WHO said, and additional suspected cases had also been reported in North Kivu province, one of the country’s most populous regions bordering Ituri.

On Sunday, authorities in Goma, eastern DRC’s largest city, said the first confirmed Ebola case had been detected there. The infected person had traveled from Ituri province and was being held in isolation, officials said.

Goma was the site of a rapid rebel offensive in early 2025, and ongoing fighting between DRC forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Additional sources • AFP