Ebola outbreak may have started in January and spread ‘unchecked for months’ | World | News
Ebola may have been spreading uncontrollably in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since January; local authorities now trace the latest outbreak of the deadly virus back to zero patients at the beginning of the year.
However, for unclear reasons, this important information was withheld from international NGOs by medical authorities until last week; local health officials now acknowledge that they believe the 2026 outbreak was caused by a patient treated at a hospital in the village of Rwampara in eastern DRC. Local medical staff said patient zero arrived at the hospital in late January and died in February, The Telegraph added, adding that the patient infected eight healthcare workers before he died.
Since then, at least 1,077 suspected cases and 223 deaths have been determined to be caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain, which emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent months. An additional nine cases were reported in neighboring Uganda.
MONGBWALU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – MAY 20: A patient prepares to have blood drawn for testing at Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital during the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Image: undefined)
If information from local health workers is confirmed, newly revealed details suggest the deadly virus has been spreading undetected for months. The 2026 outbreak ranks as the third largest Ebola outbreak on record and was officially confirmed by the Congolese Ministry of Health on May 15. This means the virus is months away from spreading through communities without intervention.
The World Health Organization (WHO) previously believed the index case was a healthcare worker in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo who developed Ebola symptoms on April 25 and later died. A number of international NGOs have received updated health information, including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Action Aid and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Rachel Howard, IRC Senior Technical Emergency Health Adviser, said: “The true extent of this Ebola outbreak is likely to be much worse than official figures suggest.”
MONGBWALU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO – MAY 24: Health workers wearing protective equipment carry the body of a suspected Ebola victim during safe burial procedures outside a family home in the Mongbwalu community May 24, 2026 (Image: undefined)
“When four out of five contacts are not traced, it becomes incredibly difficult to contain the outbreak or even understand its true extent. We are particularly concerned about the virus spreading to other countries such as Burundi or South Sudan,” Ms Howard added.
If the outbreak had actually started in January, it is likely that thousands more people would have been exposed to Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which is extremely difficult to control and for which there is currently no licensed vaccine or treatment. Only 20 percent of people known to have been in close contact with Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been contacted since the official outbreak date in April.
The fate of thousands of people is unknown, and the true figure may be much higher if the Bundibugyo ebolavirus has been spreading uncontrollably since January.
TOPSHOT – Workers from the Uganda Red Cross Society are sprayed with disinfectant during the evacuation of the body of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. The organization is preparing to assist the Ministry of Health in transferring suspected cases to treatment centers and conducting safe, dignified funerals after positive results are confirmed. The action follows the confirmation of three additional cases of Ebola Bundibugyo, bringing the total to five linked to travelers from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where an outbreak has led to 119 deaths among 904 suspected cases. The World Health Organization has classified this outbreak in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda as a public health emergency of international concern. (Photo: Badru KATUMBA / AFP via Getty Images) (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Containment efforts across the region have been further hampered by unstable security conditions, widespread distrust in society, and conspiracy theories; This was compounded by the distress experienced by relatives who were prohibited from burying loved ones who died of the devastating disease.
Last week, an MSF-run treatment center in Rwampara was raided by a group trying to retrieve the bodies of relatives who had died of Ebola; the remains still carried the deadly infection.
To further deepen the crisis, nearly a million people have been displaced by fighting in the DRC’s Ituri province, the epicenter of the epidemic and one of the country’s most troubled regions where armed groups, Islamic State-linked rebels and community militias routinely carry out massacres.
On May 28, 2026, a displaced woman wears a mask while sitting outside her shelter in Kigonze camp in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ebola hemorrhagic fever epidemic is spreading rapidly in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world. More than 1,000 suspected cases, including 223 deaths, have been recorded in the DRC by the World Health Organization so far. (WHO). Nearly a million people have been displaced by fighting in Ituri province, the epicenter of the epidemic and one of the DRC’s most troubled regions where armed groups, Islamic State-linked rebels and community militias regularly carry out massacres. (Photo: Glody MURHABAZI / AFP via Getty Images) (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week amid the ongoing outbreak and called for greater international support to contain the spread of the virus. The international health agency is facing challenges as healthcare workers in the field lack basic supplies such as face masks, providing only a fraction of the financial support needed to provide aid on the ground.
Additional funding is urgently needed to cover the distribution of testing kits, the establishment of treatment facilities, and the implementation of contact tracing programs. Just last week the British Government donated £21 million to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support containment measures. But critics were quick to point out that these millions represented just five per cent of the aid the UK sent to combat the West African outbreak in 2014.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks to the media upon arrival at N’djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, on Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi) (Image: Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
The United Kingdom and other Western countries have significantly cut aid budgets to redirect these funds to defense spending.
For example, the USA witnessed cuts in all aid after the Trump administration came to power. Washington has withdrawn funding from the WHO, terminated the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), imposed cuts to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is currently reducing its total health aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the epicenter of the last Ebola outbreak.
All of the above measures have undermined global health systems that are vital in responding to the epidemics currently emerging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
