Ebola outbreak spreads in DR Congo amid containment efforts in Uganda and wildlife protection measures

The scale of the outbreak

The Ebola outbreak centered in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has become the largest in the country’s history. As of July 30, the World Health Organization recorded 3,605 confirmed cases and 1,587 deaths, a fatality rate of 44%, according to the BBC. That surpasses the previous record outbreak of 2018-2020, which had roughly 3,500 cases and killed about 2,300 people over two years. This outbreak, by contrast, is moving far faster: the WHO reported that the week before its update produced 567 new cases and 296 deaths alone, calling the pace of transmission “exceptional.” Congolese health authorities separately put the death toll above 1,400 as of early August, while the BBC notes experts believe the true number of fatalities is likely higher than officially counted.

The outbreak, declared May 15, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment. The WHO said in late July that the most promising vaccine candidate is being developed in Singapore, while a separate vaccine trial has begun in the United Kingdom. The virus’s epicenter is Ituri province in the northeast, which borders South Sudan and Uganda, but cases have also spread into North and South Kivu provinces — areas where large swaths of territory are controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group. The WHO says insecurity, population displacement and cross-border movement are complicating containment and raising the risk the outbreak spreads further geographically. Beyond Congo and Uganda, 20 cases have been reported in Uganda, one in France, and two Congo-diagnosed patients were treated in Germany; a UK humanitarian worker has also been monitored for Ebola in a London hospital.

Uganda’s contrasting experience

Next door, Uganda has had a markedly different outcome. The country recorded its first cases in May as well, but has confirmed only 20 cases and two deaths total, and its health minister announced what she called a “moment of joy” two weeks ago when the last Ebola patient was discharged from hospital. WHO Uganda chief Dr Kasonde Mwinga told the BBC the low toll wasn’t luck but the product of “preparedness” built from experience. This is Uganda’s ninth outbreak since 2000, compared with Congo’s 17th since Ebola was first identified 50 years ago. Officials point to institutional memory: government spokesperson Alan Kasujja told the BBC “we know how to deal with it,” citing a 2011 case in which a 12-year-old girl’s symptoms triggered immediate isolation and protective protocols that stopped that outbreak in its tracks. When Congo-linked cases arrived this time — Uganda’s first patient was a man who crossed the border from Congo for treatment, and 15 of its 20 cases originated there — authorities were able to activate a specialist Ebola treatment center at Mulago Hospital in Kampala within a single day, reusing leftover supplies and an emergency medical team from a prior 2025 outbreak, according to the facility’s head, Dr David Kaggwa.

Virunga National Park’s role as a buffer

In eastern Congo, Virunga National Park — Africa’s oldest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980 — has mobilized its own emergency response to help contain the outbreak while protecting the endangered mountain gorillas living within its borders. Director-general Emmanuel de Merode told Al Jazeera that protected, unpopulated areas like Virunga function as natural barriers slowing disease spread. The park has set up six health checkpoints in and around its roughly 300-kilometer stretch of protected forest in North Kivu, deployed 40 paramedics and 80 rangers as part of an initial six-month response, and equipped checkpoints with handwashing stations, temperature screening, and first-level isolation centers. In Ituri, the outbreak’s epicenter, checkpoints near the provincial capital Bunia are screening travelers from affected areas. De Merode said the park has also supplied protective equipment, body bags, thermometers and vehicles to overstretched health services, drawing on lessons from its role in the 2018-2020 outbreak that killed nearly 2,300 people in North Kivu and Ituri.

How the coverage differs

Each outlet frames the story around a different angle. The BBC’s outbreak-scale report focuses on the grim statistics — case counts, fatality rate, and the WHO’s warning about insecurity and displacement — establishing this as a historic public health crisis. The BBC’s companion piece pivots to Uganda as a comparative success story, built around interviews with health officials and a survivor case from 2011 to explain preparedness. Al Jazeera takes a narrower, on-the-ground focus on Virunga National Park’s specific containment measures and its dual mission of protecting both people and gorillas, featuring extended quotes from the park’s director. None of the three articles cross-reference each other’s specific figures directly, though the death toll cited varies slightly — Congolese authorities cite more than 1,400 deaths in the Al Jazeera piece versus the WHO’s 1,587 figure reported by the BBC, reflecting different reporting dates and sourcing.

Sources

• Al Jazeera
• BBC World
• BBC World (2)

Featured photo: Nightstallion via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)