{"id":502217,"date":"2026-06-30T05:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/502217\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T05:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:52:11","slug":"ebola-outbreak-in-congo-leads-to-banned-public-gatherings-in-four-provinces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/502217\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola outbreak in Congo leads to banned public gatherings in four provinces"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ban comes ahead of a planned protest in Kinshasa on July 8 against constitutional reform, with opposition figures calling it “politically motivated.”<\/p>\n

The order, issued on June 27 by the interior minister, covers Kinshasa, Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele provinces, none of which has recorded cases so far.<\/p>\n

It cited proximity to affected provinces as a key transmission risk, and required authorities in the four provinces to monitor anyone presenting symptoms and submit daily surveillance reports.<\/p>\n

The outbreak, declared on May 15, has infected 1,274 people and killed 360 across three eastern provinces, Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, according to government data released on Monday.<\/p>\n

Opposition figures are calling on supporters to rally against proposed constitutional changes they say could allow President Felix Tshisekedi to seek a third term.<\/p>\n

Prince Epenge, a spokesperson for the opposition Lamuka coalition, denounced the ban as “politically motivated” and told Reuters the July 8 protest<\/a> would go ahead.<\/p>\n

A previous rally on June 12 was broken up by police using tear gas and live ammunition, killing one protester and injuring 38, according to the UN Human Rights<\/a> Office.<\/p>\n

Separately, the mayor of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo and currently under the control of AFC\/M23 rebels, on Monday banned public gatherings and demonstrations, including celebrations linked to sporting events. The order cited the risk of Ebola transmission and came a day after crowds gathered to celebrate Congo’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ban comes ahead of a planned protest in Kinshasa on July 8 against constitutional reform, with opposition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8425,11630,8433,23270,134,111,139,69,13218],"class_list":["post-502217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-congo","tag-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","tag-ebola-virus","tag-epidemic","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pandemic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}