{"id":804955,"date":"2026-07-16T23:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804955\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T23:45:09","slug":"ebola-spreading-more-quickly-in-drc-while-uganda-is-close-to-being-virus-free-ebola-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804955\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola spreading more quickly in DRC, while Uganda is close to being virus-free | Ebola News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uganda \u2060discharges last-remaining patient, as WHO says Ebola has \u2018expanded faster than any previous outbreak\u2019 in DRC.<\/p>\n

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Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Ebola is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo more quickly than in any previous outbreak.<\/p>\n

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Thursday that the Ebola outbreak in the DRC in 2018-2020 \u201ctook more than 10 months to reach 2,000 confirmed cases\u201d. But this time, it took only two months for there to be over 2,000 confirmed cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is now the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record,\u201d Tedros said. \u201cIn the past month, it has expanded faster than any previous outbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2060number of confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC increased to 2,124 on Thursday, according to government data. The country\u2019s public health \u2060institute said in \u2060its latest report that 51 new \u2060cases were \u2060detected on \u2060Wednesday in the eastern provinces of Ituri \u200cand North Kivu.<\/p>\n

The DRC reported 62 new cases on Thursday, increasing its total number of confirmed infections to 2,073, though the \u2060\u2060WHO has said the \u2060\u2060true tally could be at least double<\/a> that.<\/p>\n

The DRC\u2019s 17th Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 after several deaths in Ituri, the mineral-rich northeastern province patrolled by several armed groups.<\/p>\n

Cases of Ebola, which spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids, have so far been found in five DRC provinces and neighbouring Uganda, though the vast majority are in Ituri.<\/p>\n

The WHO chief highlighted that over 80 percent of new cases were being detected \u201coutside known contact lists, showing that transmission chains are still being missed\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that 377 people have recovered from Ebola in the DRC, \u201cshowing that with early diagnosis and safe care, this disease can be survived and stopped\u201d.<\/p>\n

To compound problems in Ituri, healthcare workers began a strike<\/a> and blocked the entrance to Bunia General Hospital on Wednesday. Staff said they had not received any compensation for their work since the outbreak began, despite working under extremely difficult conditions.<\/p>\n

In Uganda, things were looking up as its last remaining Ebola patient was discharged on Thursday, starting a 42-day countdown after which it can \u2060\u2060be declared Ebola-free, said the East African nation\u2019s health ministry.<\/p>\n

Uganda had 20 cases of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola since mid-May. Fifteen were people infected in the DRC who then travelled to Uganda.<\/p>\n

Unlike the surging number of infections in DRC, Uganda has not reported a new case since June 22 .<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, Uganda has discharged the last Ebola patient, a Congolese national who has successfully recovered and [is] \u2060\u2060ready to be with his family,\u201d Uganda\u2019s health ministry posted on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cUganda starts \u200c\u200ccounting down. If 42 days pass without a single new case, WHO guidelines stipulate \u200c\u200cthat we will be declared Ebola-free.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uganda \u2060discharges last-remaining patient, as WHO says Ebola has \u2018expanded faster than any previous outbreak\u2019 in DRC. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6074,64,63,89033,84608,137,44,67519],"class_list":["post-804955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-africa","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","tag-ebola","tag-health","tag-news","tag-uganda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}