The case count is climbing again in the DRC — and today, for the first time, Kampala is joining the response. New to this story? Here's where things stand. The DRC's Bundibugyo outbreak is under international monitoring as a multi-country public health emergency of international concern. Before today's update, WHO had reported 3,605 confirmed cases and 1,587 deaths as of July 30. Outbreak News Today, citing a DRC Ministry of Health report, put the death toll at 1,621 after 34 additional confirmed deaths in a single 24-hour window. This is Ebola Watch. Today: why senior WHO and Africa CDC officials just flew to Uganda, and what the rising count tells us when conflict keeps responders out. Cera, start me with the numbers. From Robert Herriman at Outbreak News Today:
Health officials with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) report 72 new confirmed Ebola cases and 44 additional confirmed deaths, bringing the total cases and deaths through August 3 to 3,874 cases and 1,751 deaths for a 45.1% case fatality rate.
So here's the latest on Bundibugyo: DRC officials now put the outbreak at 3,874 confirmed cases and 1,751 deaths through August 3. That's 72 new confirmed cases and 44 confirmed deaths in this reporting period. And I want to be careful with that headline number: the 45.1% case fatality rate applies only to confirmed cases. As Outbreak News Today puts it, roughly one in two people who tested positive has died. The true infection count is likely higher, so read that percentage narrowly. Okay, but for someone looking at a map, where is this actually happening? Because 51 out of 140 health zones sounds like it's everywhere. It isn't everywhere. Ituri accounts for 87 percent of cases — 3,375 in that one northeastern province. Five provinces show up on paper, but the outbreak is overwhelmingly concentrated in one corner of the country. So the 'five provinces' line is technically true and pretty misleading at the same time. Right. The cases are concentrated geographically, but the outbreak still isn't contained. We'll get into why it keeps spreading in a moment. Here's ReliefWeb:
The visit comes as the country work to sustain preparedness following the successful containment of the recent Ebola disease outbreak while remaining vigilant against the continued risk posed by ongoing Ebola transmission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Discussions focused on strengthening collective action to address current and future public health threats.
So two of the biggest names in African health security just flew into Kampala: Dr Janabi from WHO Africa and Dr Kaseya from Africa CDC. Daniel-brain question: why Uganda when the fire's burning in the DRC? Because Uganda already put its own outbreak out — it declared containment back in late July — and it's the neighbour across the border. Now the response is linking Kinshasa and Kampala around one shared, cross-border problem. Here's the limit, though. What's on the record is recognition of Uganda's rapid detection, the emergency medical personnel it deployed into the DRC, and its support for cross-border surveillance. Those are real commitments. But listen to the wording: 'discussions focused on strengthening collective action.' It lays out a posture. So far, there's no signed check attached. The Vice President and the health minister were both in the room, though. You don't bring both of them in for a courtesy call. No. And for a worried listener, I'd come back to Uganda's own line: its health security is inseparable from its neighbours'. With its own outbreak contained and the one next door still growing, Uganda's vigilance is exactly the firewall you want. Here's CRBC News:
Most infections are concentrated in Ituri province, where fighting has persisted since 2021 after offensives by the M23 rebel group resumed. Nearly one million people in the region are now internally displaced, and dozens of armed groups operate across affected areas. Renewed clashes along the Ituri–North Kivu border have forced families to flee, complicating case detection, contact tracing and safe patient transport.
We just walked through the 3,874 figure, so keep that in mind. This CRBC piece uses the earlier confirmed baseline of 3,605 and puts that number in context by showing how fast the outbreak has grown. The 2018-to-2020 outbreak took roughly eighteen months to reach a caseload like this. This one got there in under three months. The pace is what I'd underline: it's the fastest-growing outbreak on record, driven by the Bundibugyo strain. Okay, but I want to know why it's moving that fast. Is it the virus, or is it that nobody can get in there to stop it? It's largely the second. Most cases are in Ituri, where nearly a million people are displaced amid M23 fighting that's persisted since 2021. Renewed clashes along the Ituri–North Kivu border are physically disrupting contact tracing and safe patient transport. And the money isn't there either. The appeal is for two-point-one billion dollars, and it's only forty-five percent funded. Plus, USAID shut down last year. So the response is running on less than half a tank in an active war zone. The UN says the response needs to triple. Put that next to 45 percent of the appeal being funded, and you can see why the confirmed count only gives you the floor. Have feedback, story ideas, or a correction? Email us at ebolawatch at lantern podcasts dot com. Your notes help us make Ebola Watch more accurate and useful.
Links to every story we covered today are in the show notes if you'd like to read more about anything that caught your attention. That's Ebola Watch for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.