A 21-year-old man has tested positive for Ebola in Lubero territory, North Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on ground controlled by the M23 rebel movement, health officials confirmed on September 3. It is the fifth confirmed case in M23-held territory since the current outbreak began in May 2026, and comes despite the rebel group having declared the outbreak finished in its territory back in June.
The new case adds to a national toll that has already made this one of the deadliest Ebola outbreaks in DRC’s history. As of September 1, the country had recorded 6,250 confirmed cases and 3,039 deaths, according to national health authorities, figures that have climbed steadily since deaths first passed the 3,000 mark across six provinces spanning roughly 240,000 square kilometers.
Africa CDC struck a cautious tone on the trajectory of the outbreak. “It remains too early to say that the Ebola outbreak in the DRC is under control,” the continental health body said, pointing to the reemergence of cases in areas previously believed to be clear as evidence that the epidemic has not been fully contained.
Insecurity remains the central obstacle to ending the outbreak. Much of the affected region, including the area where the latest case was found, is contested or controlled by armed groups, limiting the access of response teams responsible for contact tracing, vaccination and safe burials. Earlier reporting on the outbreak found only about half of affected health zones had functioning burial teams, and contact tracing has consistently fallen short of targets in the hardest-hit areas.
The setback comes even as international funding for the response has grown, with pledges from the African Union, the Pandemic Fund and the United States now totaling more than $1.37 billion. But as the Lubero case shows, money alone has not been enough to overcome the access problems created by the conflict layered on top of the epidemic in eastern DRC.
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Source: The Rio Times
