Ebola outbreak spreads across Congo, children and health workers at risk

Aid agencies were rushing to reinforce Congo’s Ebola response as the virus spread into new health zones and the risk to children rose. By June 12, United Nations agencies said the outbreak had grown to 676 reported cases and 136 deaths, with infections stretching across 34 health zones from Aru in Ituri province to Miti Murhesa in South Kivu, about 1,000 kilometres apart.

The outbreak, first declared on May 15, was driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, for which the World Health Organization said there was no licensed vaccine or specific treatment. Health officials said candidate drugs and vaccines were being studied, but the immediate challenge was containment in eastern Congo, where insecurity, population movement and a wider humanitarian crisis made tracking cases far harder.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on June 3 that the agency was “catching up” after the virus got a head start, but he warned that testing, surveillance, vaccine development and community trust still lagged. WHO said the current follow-up rate was about 45 percent, far below the more than 90 percent officials said was needed to get ahead of the outbreak and stop fresh chains of transmission.

Health workers have been among the most exposed. By June 1, WHO said 16 health workers had contracted Ebola in the latest outbreak, a reminder that clinics and treatment centres are not just places of care but also sites of transmission when protective gear, staffing and contact tracing are stretched. WHO also said four nurses had recovered and been discharged, bringing the total number of recoveries it had announced to five.

Children face a growing share of the danger. UNICEF said more than half of children under five in Ituri province were chronically malnourished, and more than one in five were “zero dose” children who had missed routine vaccinations. With cases now appearing in new health zones, officials warned that young children were increasingly likely to be infected if containment efforts faltered.

The outbreak has already tested Congo’s system under conditions that have repeatedly helped Ebola persist. The country’s September 2025 outbreak in Kasai was its 16th since Ebola was discovered there in 1976, and WHO said that outbreak ended on December 1, 2025 after 64 cases and 45 deaths. Human Rights Watch has urged the government and international partners to prioritize community engagement and limit the role of security forces, a warning that reflects a basic truth of Ebola control: without trust, contact tracing weakens, and local cases can quickly turn into regional risk.