The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the Ebola epidemic caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is spreading at an “unprecedented speed”, with almost 5,000 people infected and more than 2,300 deaths recorded in six provinces.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued the warning on Tuesday at the second meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the outbreak, three months after declaring the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern.
Tedros said the outbreak had become the second largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded and was moving faster than any previous Ebola epidemic.
“We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” he said, adding that the outbreak had “a big head start” and first responders were “still playing catch-up.”
The latest figures cited by the head of the WHO put the number of victims at almost 5,000 infections and more than 2,300 deaths, with transmission in six provinces and 55 health zones.
The scale of the outbreak has already surpassed the previous deadliest Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which killed 2,299 people between 2018 and 2020. Current official figures stand at 4,945 confirmed infections and 2,325 deaths as of August 16.
Tedros said the biggest concern was that many people were dying outside the formal health system: in their homes and in their communities, outside treatment centers and outside lists of known contacts.
“Every death like that points to a chain of transmission that we have not yet found. Until all the chains are found and broken, the epidemic will continue,” he said.
According to Tedros, the pattern is particularly dangerous because people who have not been identified as contacts can continue to move between communities while they are infectious.
The WHO has previously reported that a large proportion of new cases are being identified outside of monitored contacts, making traditional contact tracing increasingly difficult.
He said the epidemic was being driven by a combination of insecurity, population displacement and intense population movements along roads, rivers and mining routes.
Much of the outbreak is concentrated in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where armed conflict and weak infrastructure have made access to affected communities increasingly difficult.
Tedros said the international risk had also become clear, with the virus already reaching Europe and demonstrating the limitations of border controls in stopping infectious diseases.
“Borders can slow a response; they don’t stop a virus,” he said.
Amid the worsening outbreak, Tedros said two Bundibugyo-specific vaccines were now being tested in humans, while another vaccine had shown cross-protection in animal studies and was moving toward a Phase III trial.
According to him, the Oxford Vaccine Group launched the first phase I clinical trial of a Bundibugyo Ebola vaccine in July, while vaccine manufacturers have been preparing doses for potential use as research and response needs increase.
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He said the research effort was being carried out against the backdrop of a rapidly worsening epidemic, increasing pressure on scientists and regulators to generate reliable evidence as quickly as possible.
Tedros, however, said the DRC government, the WHO, the Africa CDC and other partners were scaling up operations to contain the outbreak.
Measures include strengthening community surveillance, expanding treatment capacity, supporting safe and dignified burials, increasing cross-border coordination, and deepening community engagement and trust-building.
However, he stressed that the response still required faster data sharing, better surveillance, sustained funding, better access and security, and stronger cross-border coordination to prevent the epidemic from spreading further.
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