Congo Ebola outbreak ‘global emergency’ as infections pass 5,000: WHO

Officials warn they are continuing to identify new chains of transmission, which need to be broken to stop the spread.Published On 18 Aug 202618 Aug 2026The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains a global health emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned as it announced that the number of cases in the country has passed 5,000.Following an emergency meeting on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the international community to assist in efforts to contain the outbreak, which has killed more than 2,320 people.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreads to a sixth provincelist 2 of 3Why is the latest Ebola outbreak worsening?list 3 of 3Ebola outbreak in DR Congo becomes deadliest in country’s historyend of list“We must be frank: the epidemic is far from being under control,” Tedros told the emergency meeting. “It had a big head start, and we are still playing catch-up.”The outbreak is the seventeenth in the DRC and is now the deadliest, exceeding the number of people killed during the outbreak from 2018 to 2020.The emergency has caused more concern than usual for several reasons, i...