Congo Battles Ebola Surge

Congo’s Kasai province is battling a fast-spreading Ebola outbreak with suspected cases rising to 68 and 16 deaths in a week, marking the region’s first in over a decade.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is grappling with a sharp rise in Ebola cases in its southern Kasai province, where suspected infections have surged from 28 to 68 in just one week, with 16 confirmed deaths.

According to Africa CDC, the outbreak has now spread from two districts to four, raising urgent concerns about containment in a region where healthcare facilities and infrastructure remain limited.

The outbreak was first confirmed last week in Bulapé after a pregnant woman tested positive, marking Kasai’s first Ebola case in more than a decade and the country’s 16th overall. Health authorities quickly deployed checkpoints, imposed restrictions on movement, and dispatched teams of experts from the World Health Organization alongside Congo’s Rapid Response Team.

Officials say efforts are under way to trace contacts and monitor communities, but challenges persist. Poor road networks, a lack of medical resources, and ongoing insecurity in eastern areas of the country are hampering containment operations.

Despite the gravity of the situation, there have been small signs of progress, with at least one patient reported to be showing improvement. However, local communities remain anxious as the virus advances across densely populated villages.

Authorities warn that limited resources pose a major threat to efforts to curb the outbreak. One provincial official, speaking on the difficulty of containing the disease, remarked: “In a province where roads are scarce and villages dense, Ebola can travel faster than hope.”

This latest outbreak underscores the continued vulnerability of Congo to recurring health crises, even as the nation struggles with broader political instability and armed conflict in its eastern regions.