Health workers prepare the coffin of Ang\u00e8le Muyumba Nsimire, a university student who died of Ebola at the Citadelle Clinic in Bunia, Congo, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo\/Moses Sawasawa)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-06-14T21:00:33Z<\/p>\n
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) \u2014 The number of confirmed Ebola cases<\/a><\/span> in Congo has increased to 782, with 181 deaths, the Congolese Ministry of Health said in a statement on social platform X on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n However, the number of cases in Congo is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed on May 15, weeks after it is suspected to have begun, and the contact tracing coverage rate is at 56%, a sharp decrease from last week.<\/p>\n The latest Ebola outbreak<\/a><\/span> is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment, unlike the \u201cZaire virus,\u201d which was responsible for most of Congo\u2019s past 16 outbreaks of the disease<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Fifty-six people have recovered, and the current fatality rate of the outbreak is 23%, the Ministry said.<\/p>\n The outbreak is concentrated in Congo\u2019s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, and have spread across the border to Uganda.<\/p>\n Nearly a million people have been displaced by conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast province with dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.<\/p>\n Tracing is also difficult among the thousands of artisanal miners who regularly move between remote sites in the mineral-rich region.<\/p>\n