KASAI, DRC – At least 15 people, including four health workers, have died following a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
The outbreak, the country’s 16th since the virus was first detected in 1976, has been reported in central Kasai province, where 28 suspected cases have so far been recorded.
Officials said the first confirmed case was a 34-year-old pregnant woman who was admitted to hospital last month with a high fever and repeated vomiting. Tests later confirmed the Zaire strain of Ebola, one of the deadliest forms of the virus.
“Case numbers are likely to increase as the transmission is ongoing,” the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a statement, noting that response teams were working with local authorities to trace and isolate infections.
The global health body said DRC has a stockpile of treatments, including 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which is effective against this strain of Ebola.
The Ministry of Health has urged citizens to strictly follow preventive measures such as regular handwashing, social distancing in high-risk areas, and immediate reporting of suspected cases.
The outbreak is the first since 2022, when six people died. A far deadlier wave in 2019 claimed more than 2,000 lives in the country’s troubled east.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the blood, vomit, feces, or other bodily fluids of an infected person, often after initial exposure from infected fruit bats.
Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
Health officials have appealed for calm, stressing that swift intervention is underway to contain the outbreak.
