Ebola Spreads Beyond Eastern DRC as Uganda Records Cases, Raising Regional Alarm

The Ebola outbreak unfolding across Central Africa is accelerating faster than health officials initially feared, with Uganda confirming imported cases and the World Health Organization warning that the true scale of infections remains uncertain.

Speaking before delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the outbreak has reached more than 500 suspected infections and roughly 130 suspected deaths — figures he said reflect both “the magnitude and the speed” of an epidemic that began in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo but is no longer contained there.

“So far, 30 cases have been confirmed in Ituri Province in DRC,” Tedros said. “Uganda has also confirmed two cases in Kampala, both imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” He cautioned that case numbers are expected to rise as surveillance, laboratory testing, and contact tracing expand.

The confirmation of cases in Uganda’s capital has heightened concerns that the outbreak is moving beyond remote communities into major urban centers, a shift that historically increases the difficulty of containment.

“We have already seen cases reported in urban areas such as Kampala and Goma,” Tedros said. “This creates a greater risk of wider transmission.” He added that infections among healthcare workers suggest exposure linked to outbreak response activities themselves.

At the center of the response effort is Ituri Province in eastern DRC, where health officials say the situation remains highly fluid.

“There is enormous uncertainty right now about the actual number of infections and the extent of the virus’s spread,” said Anne Ancia, speaking via video link from Ituri. She said investigators identified the index case in Mongwalu, near Bunia.

One of the most striking revelations from WHO officials is that the outbreak may have circulated undetected for weeks.

According to Ancia, early laboratory testing failed to identify the virus because facilities in Ituri lacked the correct reagents to detect the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.

“The laboratory only had testing materials for the Zaire strain, so initial results kept coming back negative,” she explained. “At first, health teams believed they were dealing with malaria or overlapping infections such as salmonella.”

It was only after samples were transferred to Kinshasa and genetically sequenced that the diagnosis was confirmed.

“That delay contributed to where we are today,” Ancia said, noting that surveillance and investigation capacity in the region remains severely constrained and that supplies for Bundibugyo testing remain limited.

The outbreak is unfolding in one of the world’s most difficult operating environments.

Eastern DRC continues to face conflict, displacement, damaged infrastructure, and limited health access. WHO officials estimate that roughly two million internally displaced people are living under highly vulnerable conditions, with limited disease surveillance and isolation capacity.

“There is a huge population living in extremely vulnerable conditions, with very limited access to healthcare, disease monitoring, and isolation facilities,” a WHO spokesperson said.

Population movement remains another major concern.

“People are constantly moving because of insecurity,” WHO officials said, warning that displacement makes contact tracing significantly harder and raises the risk of silent transmission chains.

Health officials also acknowledged that funding cuts are weakening response capacity.

“The reduction in financing has had an enormous impact on operations,” Ancia said, adding that development funding cuts led to a 73% reduction in water and sanitation support in affected areas.

“We simply do not have the resources to cover all the needs.”

WHO says it has already deployed more than 40 experts, shipped protective equipment and laboratory supplies, and expanded support for surveillance, clinical care, and cross-border preparedness.

But officials stressed that containment will depend on more than medical interventions.

“Only when communities understand the risks and actively work with response teams can outbreaks like this be contained,” Ancia said.

For Uganda and DRC, the coming weeks may determine whether this remains a regional emergency — or becomes a far broader global public health test.