Congo’s Ebola outbreak records one of its highest weekly death tolls yet

More than 300 people died of Ebola in eastern Congo in the past week, according to Ministry of Health data, bringing the outbreak's total to 5,514 cases and 2,642 deaths as of Saturday. Congolese experts warn the real toll could be three times higher, since the outbreak was spreading for weeks before it was even confirmed in May.

This is now the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, with a fatality rate near 48% overall and as high as 68.6% in North Kivu, where access is hardest. No approved vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain driving the crisis, though Congo received over 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine on Friday for use in trials — officials have not said when frontline workers will actually receive it.

Responders face unpaid work stoppages, damaged roads, rebel activity, and misinformation denying the disease is real, compounding an already dire response. Experts believe the virus was quietly circulating in the mining town of Mongbwalu as early as February, five months before it was officially declared.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.