DRC Ebola Reaches Seven Provinces: What WHO DON 618 Changes

The 23 September Snapshot

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak has entered a new geographic phase. WHO Disease Outbreak News 618, published on 25 September, reports 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths in the DRC as of 23 September. The crude case-fatality ratio is 48.1%, and 1,966 patients have recovered.

The outbreak has now reached 63 health zones in seven provinces. Bulu Health Zone recorded the first confirmed case in Sud Ubangi, while Dungu became the seventh affected health zone in Haut-Uele. Those detections matter because they extend the response toward international borders in both the north-west and north-east of the country.

Indicator	DRC, as of 23 September 2026
Confirmed cases	7,890
Confirmed deaths	3,799
Crude CFR	48.1%
Recoveries	1,966
Affected provinces	7
Affected health zones	63
Health zones reporting cases in the previous 21 days	48
Contacts monitored in the latest 24 hours	26,980 of 32,342 (83.4%)

These are confirmed-case figures. They remain subject to retrospective review as laboratory results, duplicate records, and delayed reports are reconciled.

A National Total Hides Several Different Epidemics

The DRC curve should not be read as one uniform national wave. WHO describes sharply different trajectories among provinces.

Ituri remains the epicentre, with 6,032 cumulative confirmed cases. Incidence has declined from its mid-August peak, but transmission remains high.
North Kivu has 1,480 cumulative cases and experienced a substantial rise into mid-September. Its reported CFR, 59.7%, is the highest among affected provinces.
Haut-Uele continues to report sustained transmission, although below its late-August peak.
Tshopo shows renewed activity after a period of lower incidence.
Bas-Uele continues to report sporadic transmission.
South Kivu had reported no new case since 29 May at the time of the update.
Sud Ubangi is newly affected, with its first confirmed case reported on 10 September.

This heterogeneity changes how response resources should be allocated. A declining curve in one province cannot compensate for an expanding cluster elsewhere. Mature response hubs need enough staff and beds to sustain control, while newly affected areas need rapid investigation before a small number of cases becomes an established chain.

Why Bulu and Dungu Change the Risk Picture

The two newly affected health zones are not simply additions to a map.

Bulu, in Sud Ubangi, marks the seventh province affected. Its location in north-western DRC brings surveillance closer to borders with the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo. Dungu, in Haut-Uele, lies near South Sudan. In both settings, routine movement for trade, family visits, work, and access to health services can cross administrative and international boundaries.

A first detected case does not prove widespread local transmission. It may be an imported infection, the first case in a new chain, or the first case found in a chain that was already present. The operational response is similar at the beginning: isolate and care for the patient, reconstruct movements and exposures, list contacts, test alerts quickly, and monitor for further cases through the full incubation window.

WHO continues to assess risk as very high within the DRC, high for countries sharing land borders, and low for the wider African region and globally. It advises against general travel or trade restrictions. Targeted surveillance and rapid response are more useful than indiscriminate border closures.

Seventy Cases in One Reporting Day Does Not Mean Seventy New Infections That Day

WHO reported 70 newly confirmed cases from 26 health zones in the 24 hours preceding the 23 September snapshot. This is a reporting measure, not a precise infection-date measure.

Ebola infection, symptom onset, sample collection, laboratory confirmation, and entry into the national database happen on different dates. In a large outbreak, a daily increase may combine:

recently infected people tested quickly;
samples delayed by distance or insecurity;
results released in a laboratory batch;
records added after retrospective investigation;
corrections made during data harmonisation.

Daily totals are still valuable for operational awareness, but multi-day trends and the number of zones with recent transmission provide a more stable picture than one reporting-day increase.

Contact Follow-up Is Improving, but the Denominator Is Growing

Teams monitored 26,980 of 32,342 identified contacts in the latest 24-hour period, a follow-up rate of 83.4%. That means more than 5,000 listed contacts were not recorded as successfully seen that day.

The percentage alone does not capture the workload. As the epidemic expands geographically, the number of people requiring daily follow-up rises. Maintaining the same percentage therefore requires more trained staff, transport, communications, and community trust. A contact-follow-up rate can also describe only people who have already been identified; it cannot measure contacts linked to undetected cases or unreported community deaths.

The most useful signs of progress will be a combination of fewer community deaths, fewer cases found outside known contact lists, faster alert investigation, and a sustained decline across the provinces still reporting recent transmission.

What to Watch After DON 618

The next official reports should answer five practical questions:

Do Bulu or Dungu report connected secondary cases?
Does North Kivu’s mid-September rise continue to decline?
Can contact monitoring improve while the absolute contact list remains large?
Do community deaths fall as treatment access expands?
Does geographic spread stop at 63 health zones, or reach additional provinces and borders?

EbolaMap tracks these changes on the interactive map and in the source-linked news feed. Counts are presented with their data dates because an outbreak number without a date can be misleading.

Published 25 September 2026. Primary source: WHO Disease Outbreak News 618. Figures describe confirmed cases reported through 23 September and may be revised during national data harmonisation.