A Red Cross worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) disinfects a coffin outside the house of a man who died of Ebola before retrieving his body, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, in Quartier Shuni 1, a residential sector in Mongbwalu, Djugu Territory of Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo |Image used for representational purpose only
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday that there had been 220 suspected deaths in the current Ebola outbreak and that a delay in detecting cases meant responders were now “playing catch-up”.
“We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us,” Tedros said, adding that countries bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo – the epicentre of the outbreak – should take immediate action.
Earlier on Monday Uganda reported two more Ebola cases, taking its total number of confirmed cases to seven.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola a public health emergency of international concern.
Tedros said he would travel to Congo on Tuesday and that addressing the fast-moving outbreak was complicated by the fact that Congo’s Ituri and North Kivu provinces were highly insecure and there were no approved vaccines for Bundibugyo virus.
Published – May 25, 2026 06:14 pm IST