The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak is accelerating at a pace that threatens to surpass the devastating West African epidemic of 2014–2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday, calling for urgent expansion of surveillance, treatment capacity, vaccination research and international financing.
In his opening remarks at a media briefing, the WHO Director- General, Dr Tedro Ghebreyesus said the outbreak had become the second-largest Ebola epidemic on record and was moving faster than any previous outbreak.
According to figures cited in the speech, authorities have recorded 4,449 confirmed cases and 2,061 deaths across five provinces and 53 health zones.
The crisis is concentrated in Ituri province, which accounts for approximately 90% of reported cases and 80% of deaths.
Sustained transmission is continuing in Bunia, Rwampara, Nizi and Lita, while a high proportion of deaths are occurring in communities rather than treatment units and among people who were not previously listed as contacts.
That pattern is particularly alarming because it indicates that health officials have yet to identify all the chains of transmission. The WHO director-general said the outbreak cannot be stopped until every chain is found and interrupted.
Response struggling to keep pace
The organization said most transmission occurs when patients with late-stage disease remain outside treatment facilities or when bodies are handled after death.
Early medical care and safe, dignified burials are therefore central to containing the epidemic, but the WHO stressed that both measures depend on public trust and meaningful community participation.
Under the leadership of the Congolese government, response operations are being expanded across affected areas. Surveillance has been identified as the principal operational challenge.
Health authorities and partners are mapping resources, strengthening community-based detection and working to raise contact tracing from approximately 80% to the 95% level considered necessary to interrupt transmission.
Treatment capacity is also being expanded sharply. The WHO said the response aims to reach 3,000 beds within 12 weeks, while recruiting and training three health workers for every patient would require thousands of additional personnel.
Despite the scale of the emergency, the WHO reported progress. More than **21,000 community health workers** have been trained, while treatment centres, laboratories, burial teams and community-engagement programmes are operating across the affected provinces.
The speech also said that 886 patients have recovered, despite the absence of specific therapeutics and vaccines currently available for the outbreak.
Vaccine and treatment research advances
The briefing highlighted several developments in medical research. For the first time, two vaccines specifically designed against the Bundibugyo virus have entered phase-one safety trials in humans.
The WHO also cited promising results from two animal studies of a vaccine targeting Zaire ebolavirus, the more common Ebola species.
The studies showed evidence of cross -protection in animals, prompting the organization to recommend that the vaccine be included in a phase-three trial.
The WHO said it hoped the trial could begin as soon as possible, while emphasizing that the vaccine’s effectiveness against Bundibugyo disease in humans remains unknown.
The organization described a phase-three trial as the best route to determine whether a safe and effective vaccine can be made available for the current emergency and future outbreaks. It called on international partners to support and accelerate the research.
Treatment research is advancing as well. The WHO-sponsored PARTNERS trial has enrolled 100 patients, a milestone the organization presented as evidence that rigorous clinical research can be mobilized even during a complex and rapidly evolving outbreak.
Funding and security remain critical obstacles
The WHO director-general said the response depends not only on medical interventions but also on the ability to deploy them at the necessary scale and speed.
Financing remains a major shortfall: of the US$518 million required under the Continental Preparedness and Response Plan, US$264 million—just over half—has been disbursed.
The WHO is seeking financing that is timely, effective and sustainable. Access and security are equally important, particularly in eastern DRC, where active armed conflict threatens the safe movement of patients, responders and supplies.
The director-general praised health workers who continue to operate at personal risk and credited cooperation among the Congolese government, WHO, Africa CDC and international partners, with particular thanks to the United States and the United Kingdom.
WHO challenges U.S. vaccination policy shift
The briefing also addressed a separate global health issue: a recently announced change in U.S. childhood-vaccination policy. The WHO expressed concern that the changes are not consistent with the strongest available scientific evidence.
The organization said decades of research have established when children are most vulnerable to infectious diseases, when vaccines offer the greatest protection, how many doses are needed and which vaccines can safely be administered together.
It directly rejected claims linking vaccination to autism, stating that vaccines, including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, are safe and do not cause autism.
The WHO warned that delaying vaccines or unnecessarily separating doses does not improve safety and may leave children unprotected.
It urged governments to base immunization policy on rigorous, independent and transparent scientific review rather than political influence.
Youth health placed on the global agenda
Concluding the briefing, the WHO marked International Youth Day by highlighting health threats facing young people, including mental-health conditions, loneliness, violence and road-traffic injuries.
The organization said it has spent the past nine years strengthening youth participation through its broader transformation programme.
In 2023, it launched the WHO Youth Council to advise the organization and ensure that young people help shape health policy rather than serve only as recipients of services.
The council’s work is intended to support youth-led and youth-driven solutions tailored to local needs, alongside mentorship and capacity-building opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds, particularly those in underserved regions.
The central message of the briefing was that the DRC outbreak is moving faster than the response, and that defeating it will require simultaneous action: finding hidden transmission chains, expanding care, protecting communities, accelerating research, securing access and closing the financing gap.
“Until we know about—and break—every chain of transmission, we will not stop the outbreak,” the WHO director-general said.
