The World Health Organization on Sunday declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, saying the situation met WHO’s threshold for seriousness, a risk of international spread and the need for coordinated global response. WHO’s emergency declaration came after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths were reported, the Associated Press reported.
WHO also said the outbreak did not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like COVID-19, and it advised against closing international borders. WHO made the point as it also warned that the outbreak could extend beyond the initial area of transmission, with implications for how countries prepare for potential cross-border movement and medical care.
In a post on the social platform X, WHO said a laboratory-confirmed case of Ebola had also been reported in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa. WHO said the patient had visited Ituri, the eastern province that has been described as the outbreak’s epicenter, and it said other suspected cases have been reported in North Kivu province, which borders Ituri.
The emergency declaration set expectations for response coordination, but local officials and regional bodies were already describing how containment was being complicated. In eastern Congo’s Goma, which recently saw major fighting involving rebel forces, the rebel government said in a statement that the first confirmed Ebola case was detected in the city, with the infected person reportedly traveling from Ituri and being placed under isolation.
WHO’s declaration also reflected steps already underway on the ground. In a separate X post Sunday, the WHO Regional Office for Africa said a team of 35 experts from WHO and the Congolese Ministry of Health had arrived in Bunia, the capital of Ituri, along with 7 tons of emergency medical supplies and equipment.
Epidemiologists and health officials said the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola variant. Health authorities said the variant first confirmed on Friday has no approved therapeutics or vaccines, and WHO described it as the third time Bundibugyo virus has been detected in Congo and Uganda.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya said the high number of active cases remaining in the community, particularly in Mongwalu where the first cases were reported, significantly complicates containment and contact tracing. Kaseya also said slow detection delayed the response and gave the virus time to spread.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to uncertainty in the outbreak’s scope and transmission links. WHO said there are significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and the geographic spread, and it said there was limited understanding of the epidemiological links with known or suspected cases at the present time.
The AP report also described how violence and displacement are affecting public health operations in the region. It said violent conflict with militants, some backed by the Islamic State group, and constant population movement linked to mining, within Congo and across the border into Uganda, pose major challenges to response efforts.
In Uganda, WHO said it had recorded one death linked to a case it said was imported from neighboring Congo, and it said another case involved a person who had also traveled from Congo. WHO said the high percentage of positive cases among samples tested, spread to Kampala, and clusters of deaths across Ituri indicate a potentially larger outbreak than what had been detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread.
The report further said U.S. health officials described the risk to Americans as low and that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was working with other health officials to manage the outbreak and prevent further spread. CDC said it had issued travel advisories urging Americans traveling in Congo and Uganda to avoid people with symptoms such as fever, muscle pain and rash, and it said it was putting measures in place for identifying individuals with symptoms at ports of entry.