An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is probably linked to 136 deaths, the Central African nation’s Health Minister has said.
Samuel Roger Kamba told a press briefing in the capital Kinshasa on Tuesday (19 May) that there were 543 suspected cases of the illness and 32 confirmed positive cases in the DRC.
"We have about 32 positive cases from the samples we received. 32 cases are positive. [...] We are today at 136 probable deaths linked to the disease,” he said.
"We have 69 patients who are in our treatment centres. [...] We are at around 543 probable patients in the community. And so, this is the situation of the disease today. And we are indeed continuing the active search for all cases,” Kamba added.
The outbreak has alarmed experts because it was able to spread for weeks undetected across a densely populated area ravaged by widespread armed violence.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday (16 May), the first time a WHO chief has done so before convening an emergency committee.
A previous outbreak between 2018 and 2020 in eastern DRC was the second deadliest on record, killing nearly 2,300 people.
Around half of people who contract Ebola, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids from an infected person or animal, die from the disease, according to the WHO.
Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said three vaccines were currently in development for the virus.
“There is the first vaccine, as we said, the Ervebo Merck vaccine. That is the one we are pushing the most, with some specificities we are studying,” he said.
“The second is the ChAdOx vaccine from the UK. And the third is the vaccine called VSV-BDBV. That comes from Texas.”
Meanwhile, a U.S. citizen who contracted the virus in the DRC, has been transferred to Germany for treatment, the U.S. CDC said on Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said it would fund up to 50 treatment clinics in Ebola-affected regions of the DRC and Uganda.
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Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took the decision at the CIS Council of Heads of State meeting in Awaza, Turkmenistan on Friday, media reported.
The explosion at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon killed at least 12 people and injured a further 309, according to Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority. The airport remains closed until further notice.
Britain and Israel have reached a temporary compromise over the future of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, easing a diplomatic dispute that had threatened to further strain relations between the two countries.
South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (9 October) escalating tensions with European allies and potentially targeting companies that provide services to the tribunal. The move came hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Indian police detained more than 2,000 protesters in Delhi on Saturday as authorities blocked a planned demonstration calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over disputed changes to voter lists.
At least 12 people, including three children, have been killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to ease sanctions on Russian diesel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel exports, questioning why Moscow was granted an economic benefit without an apparent concession towards ending the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed surprise after Donald Trump mediated the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement in 2025, the U.S. President said at a rally in New York state on Friday.
The United Nations has condemned a sharp rise in attacks on civilians in Ukraine, reporting that more than 100 people were killed and at least 429 injured in a single week as Russian strikes hit residential areas, passenger buses and critical infrastructure.
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