The Central African country Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is once again battling the outbreak of Ebola virus infection. Congolese health officials said that this time the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak is Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, where new treatment centers have been set up to treat the affected people. Officials said the aim of these centers is to reduce the pressure on hospitals handling the increasing number of patients.

Congo’s health minister gave information about the situation

According to the BBC report, DR Congo’s Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said while talking to the news agency Associated Press on Sunday (May 17, 2026), ‘This morning we have brought all the tents, so that treatment centers can be set up. We know that hospitals are already under pressure due to the increasing number of patients. I want to tell the people here that at present 59 patients are being actively treated, but we are still preparing the treatment centers so that we can further increase our capabilities.

What did the World Health Organization representative say??

Anne Ansia, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in DR Congo, said, ‘This equipment is part of the initial response and will not be enough. We have evacuated our entire stock present in Kinshasa and sent it to Congo. Now we are preparing a C-130 cargo aircraft, which is currently in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It is being loaded in our depot there. After this it will go to Kinshasa and deliver more equipment there.

2300 people died due to virus in 2018-20

According to the BBC report, DR Congo has a lot of experience in dealing with Ebola, as this is the 17th outbreak of the virus in the country so far. Ebola was first identified in Congo in 1976 and it is believed that it was spread by bats. The country saw the worst outbreak of this virus between 2018 and 2020, in which about 2,300 people died.

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