WHO chief concerned over 'scale and speed' of Ebola outbreak as Congo
reports 134 dead
[May 20, 2026]
By JUSTIN KABUMBA, MONIKA PRONCZUK and JEAN-YVES KAMALE
BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday
expressed concern over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare
type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo in eastern Congo, where authorities
reported 134 suspected deaths and more than 500 suspected cases.
The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as
authorities tested for a more common type of Ebola and came up negative,
health experts and aid workers said. The Bundibugyo virus has no
approved medicines or vaccines.
In Bunia, the site of the first known death, health workers in
protective gear moved among residents wearing fabric masks. “I know the
consequences of Ebola, I know what it’s like,” said a worried resident,
Noëla Lumo.
Congo was expecting shipments from the United States and Britain of an
experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola, developed by
researchers at Oxford, said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the
National Institute of Biomedical Research.
“We will administer the vaccine and see who develops the disease,” he
said. But experts said such efforts would take time.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply
concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” and pointed to the
emergence of cases in urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers and
significant population movement.
In Congo, 30 cases have been confirmed, Tedros later told a meeting of
the U.N. health agency’s emergency committee. He said neighboring Uganda
has informed the WHO of two confirmed cases including a death in its
capital, Kampala, among people who had traveled from Congo.
WHO expects the outbreak to last for months at least
WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of
international concern, requiring a coordinated response. Resources were
being rushed to two affected provinces near Uganda. Parts of eastern
Congo are in the hands of armed rebels, complicating sending aid.
The head of the WHO team in Congo, Dr. Anne Ancia, said authorities
haven’t identified “patient zero.”
She also said the Ervebo vaccine, used against a different type of
Ebola, was among those considered for possible use, but anything
approved would take two months to become available.
“I don’t see that in two months we will be done with this outbreak,” she
said.
For now, Ancia said, neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention nor the Africa Centers for Disease Control were on the
ground, but others were, including Doctors Without Borders and the Red
Cross.
The UNICEF office in Bunia said it had been sent an initial 16 tons of
relief supplies, mainly disinfectants and soaps, personal protective
equipment and water purification tablets and water tanks.
Hela Skhiri, UNICEF’s Bunia bureau chief, said that the relief supplies
would be distributed according to need across three treatment centers in
Ituri province.
Cases have been confirmed in the capital of Congo's Ituri province,
Bunia; North Kivu’s rebel-held capital, Goma; and the localities of
Mongbwalu, Nyakunde and Butembo — home to well over a million people in
all.
Dr. Peter Stafford, an American doctor, is among the Bunia cases, said
Serge, the Christian organization he works for. He had been treating
patients at a hospital.
Tedros said an American had tested positive and been transferred to
Germany, but didn't confirm the identity of the patient.
There is growing panic among some residents
Ebola is a highly contagious virus and can be contracted via bodily
fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare but
severe and often fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain,
weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or
bruising.
During an outbreak more than a decade ago that killed more than 11,000
people, many were infected while washing bodies for funerals.
“Ebola is very much a disease of compassion in that it impacts the
people who are more likely to be taking care of sick folks,” said Dr.
Craig Spencer, an associate professor at the Brown University School of
Public Health who survived Ebola more than a decade ago after
contracting it in Guinea.
There was growing panic in Bunia neighborhoods Tuesday. Local
authorities urged people to remain calm and adhere to preventive
measures including practicing good hygiene and exercising caution during
funerals.
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Aid workers carry supplies to set up an Ebola treatment center in
Bunia, Congo, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima
Dieudonne)
 “It’s truly sad and painful because
we’ve already been through a security crisis, and now Ebola is here
too,” said Justin Ndasi, a resident of Bunia. “We have to protect
ourselves to avoid this epidemic.”
The most important challenge is breaking the virus transmission
chain, virus expert Muyembe said, adding that most of Congo's
previous Ebola outbreaks “were brought under control simply by
applying public health measures.”
False negative tests delayed response
Congo has said the first person died from the virus on April 24 in
Bunia, but the confirmation did not come for weeks. The body was
repatriated to the Mongbwalu health zone, a mining area with a large
population.
“That caused the Ebola outbreak to escalate,” said Congo’s health
minister, Samuel Roger Kamba.
When another person fell ill on April 26, samples were sent to
Congo's capital, Kinshasa, for testing, according to the Africa CDC.
Bunia is more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away in a country
with some of the world's worst infrastructure.
Samples from Bunia were initially tested for the more common type of
Ebola known as Zaire, Congolese officials said. They came back
negative, said Dr. Richard Kitenge, the health ministry incident
manager for Ebola.
On May 5, WHO was alerted of about 50 deaths in Mongbwalu, including
four health workers. The first confirmation of Ebola came on May 14.
“Our surveillance system didn't work,” Muyembe said. “The Bunia
laboratory ... should have continued searching and sent the samples
to the national laboratory. Something went wrong there. That’s why
we ended up in this catastrophic situation.”
Only laboratories in Kinshasa and Goma, which is now controlled by
the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, have the capacity to test for the
Bundibugyo type of Ebola.
Benjamin Mbonimpa, M23’s permanent secretary, has said the rebel
government established entry and exit points in Goma and would take
responsibility for funeral services if the virus spreads.
“Our priority is to protect the population within our jurisdiction,
and we urge people to resume their daily activities,” he said.
Matthew M. Kavanagh, director of the Georgetown University Center
for Global Health Policy and Politics, has criticized the Trump
administration’s earlier decision to withdraw from WHO and make deep
cuts in foreign aid — “the exact surveillance system meant to catch
these viruses early.”
The U.S. State Department has said it has provided $13 million for
the response.
Dr. Ancia, of WHO in Bunia, said that cuts in funding had “a marked
detrimental effect on humanitarian actors.”
On the ground, the response is complicated by lack of resources.
Trish Newport, emergency program manager from Doctors Without
Borders aid group said that her team in Bunia identified suspected
cases over the weekend in the Salama hospital, where there is no
isolation ward. They tried, unsuccessfully, to place them in another
health facility in Bunia.
“The team called around to other health facilities to see if they
had isolations,” she said. “Every health facility they called said,
‘We’re full of suspects cases. We don’t have any space.’ This gives
you a vision of how crazy it is right now.”
___
Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. AP writers Jamey Keaten in
Geneva, Constant Same Bagalwa in Bunia, Congo and Wilson McMakin in
Dakar contributed.
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