The World Health Organization has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is advancing at an unprecedented pace, surpassing all prior outbreaks of the deadly virus in the speed of its spread. More than 2,000 confirmed cases and 796 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, making it the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the 2018–2020 DRC outbreak — the second-largest ever — took more than ten months to reach 2,000 confirmed cases. The current outbreak has reached that figure in just two months.

The outbreak was first identified in Ituri, a mineral-rich northeastern province of the DRC that has long been affected by armed conflict and the presence of multiple militia groups. It is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, a rare strain for which there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments. Cases have since spread across five provinces and into neighbouring Uganda, though more than 90 percent of infections remain concentrated in Ituri. Worryingly, WHO officials estimate the true scale of the outbreak could be two to four times larger than official figures suggest, with roughly two-thirds of deaths occurring in communities among people who never reached a health facility.

A key concern driving the rapid spread is that more than 80 percent of new cases are being detected outside known contact lists, meaning health authorities are failing to identify and monitor transmission chains before new infections occur. The violent and unstable security environment is compounding the crisis significantly. On 15 July, two separate incidents struck an Ebola treatment centre in Nyankunde, a town roughly 45 kilometres southwest of Bunia, Ituri's provincial capital: gunfire broke out between local militiamen near the facility after one of their commanders died, and separately, the family of a pregnant woman who died at the centre stoned the building in anger. During the ensuing panic, four Ebola patients fled, though they subsequently returned. One suspected case, however, remained unaccounted for. By the following morning, medical personnel from the WHO, Africa CDC, and the NGO Samaritan's Purse had evacuated to Bunia, raising fears that the outbreak response in the area would be severely hampered.

Amid these challenges, efforts to develop medical countermeasures are gaining momentum. A clinical trial called EBO-PEP has been launched to test the antiviral drug obeldesivir — developed by US pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences and administered orally — as a post-exposure preventive treatment for people who have been in contact with confirmed Bundibugyo cases but are not yet showing symptoms. The trial aims to recruit nearly 1,000 participants aged 12 and over at centres adjacent to treatment facilities in Bunia and Rwampara. Separately, a trial of two potential treatments for active patients — the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral remdesivir — began in Ituri on 2 July.

The combination of an aggressive and poorly contained outbreak, a near-total absence of proven medical tools, and an active conflict zone presents what health officials describe as an extraordinarily difficult response environment. As Africa CDC emergency chief Dr Yap Boum warned after the Nyankunde evacuation: "There is no health without security."