Ebola

Barring new cases, the patient’s recovery kicks off a 42-day countdown to declaring the country’s 16th outbreak over.

The last Ebola patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been released from a treatment centre in Kasai province, according to the United Nations health agency.

The patient is the 19th to recover out of 64 total cases recorded since the outbreak was declared in September, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Sunday.

If no new cases are discovered in the next 42 days, the outbreak will be declared over.

Mohamed Janabi, the WHO’s director for Africa, said the recovery was a “remarkable achievement”, given the outbreak began just six weeks ago.

“The country’s robust response, with support from WHO and partners, was pivotal to this achievement,” he added in a social media post.

In a video alongside the post on X, health workers were seen celebrating as the final patient exited the treatment centre in Bulape.

Today, the last #Ebola patient in Bulape, #DRC was discharged from the treatment centre.

The country’s robust response, with support from WHO and partners, was pivotal to this achievement. A 42-day countdown to declare the outbreak over has now begun.

Until then, @WHO and… pic.twitter.com/YTEpGzYwPW

— Prof. Mohamed Janabi (@ProfJanabi) October 19, 2025

The outbreak, which is the DRC’s 16th to date, was declared on September 4 as Ebola cases appeared in the Bulape and Mweka areas of the Kasai province in the country’s southwest.

Since then, the WHO has tallied 53 confirmed and 11 probable cases, with patients showing typical Ebola symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhaging. Forty-five people have died.

The remote Kasai province has proven challenging to reach, even as it may have helped to prevent the spread of the virus, health officials have said.

Still, the WHO deployed response teams and set up a 32-bed treatment centre for the first time “outside a simulation exercise” in the region, the organisation said. More than 35,000 people have received vaccinations in the Bulape area.

No new cases have been identified since September 25.

Ebola was first identified in 1976 after an outbreak in what is now the DRC. Without treatment, up to 90 percent of cases are fatal, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The largest outbreak occurred from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa, ultimately infecting 28,600 and killing 11,325 people, with the disease also spreading to Europe and the United States.

The DRC’s most recent outbreak occurred in 2022 and involved just one recorded case of the virus.

UN agency confirms 48 cases since the outbreak was declared early this month, the first time in three years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that 31 people have died from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo this month.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Thursday in Geneva that there are 48 “confirmed and probable cases” in the DRC amid its first Ebola outbreak in three years.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that the disease, previously confined to two districts, has now spread to four.

The outbreak was first announced two weeks ago near the town of Bulape.

Tedros said WHO and its partners were supporting the government’s response, delivering more than 14 tons of essential medical equipment and supplies and deploying 48 experts.

CORRECTION:

” Now to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It’s been two weeks since the Government of the #DRC declared an #Ebola outbreak, near the central town of Bulape.

So far, 48 confirmed and probable cases have been reported, and 31 people have died.

I congratulate…

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) September 18, 2025

“We’ve helped to set up an Ebola treatment centre with 18 beds, with 16 patients currently being treated,” he told reporters.

Tedros said that vaccination efforts are under way for contacts, possible contacts, and front-line workers.

“Courses of the monoclonal antibody therapy Mab114 have also been sent to treatment centres in Bulape, and so far, 14 patients have received the drug,” he added.

Moreover, Tedros added that more than 900 contacts have been identified and that health authorities are following up with them. On Tuesday, the first two patients to recover were discharged, the WHO chief revealed.

Ebola is a viral hemorrhagic fever that was first discovered in Africa in the 1970s. It is harboured mainly in wild animals, particularly fruit bats.

The dense tropical forests of the DRC serve as a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which can lead to body aches, diarrhoea, fever, and impaired kidney and liver function. It can persist in survivors’ bodies, sometimes re-emerging years later.

Between 2014 and 2016, three countries in West Africa – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – experienced the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, with the disease killing more than 11,000.