The Ebola outbreak that emerged in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and crossed into neighbouring Uganda may have been killing people for weeks before the alarm was raised. When Médecins Sans Frontières investigated in May 2026, it reported that at least 55 people had died since the beginning of April.
On May 17, the WHO Director-General declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, signalling that countries needed to coordinate their response. By then, the virus had been circulating in a conflict-affected region where fighting had weakened the clinics, laboratories and reporting systems needed to detect and contain it.
