This article was translated from Arabic. Read the Arabic original
Austria Now News – Kinshasa
The death toll from the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to nearly 5,400, the African Union’s health agency Africa CDC announced on Monday, in what has become the worst outbreak of the disease in the country’s history.
More than 10,000 infections
The agency recorded 5,372 deaths in DR Congo, in addition to two deaths each in Uganda and Kenya. The total number of reported infections reached 10,444, meaning the fatality rate exceeds 50 percent.
The outbreak was officially declared in mid-May, but experts believe the virus had been spreading undetected for months before that.
No approved vaccine for this strain
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people and causes fever, muscle pain and diarrhoea, and can lead to internal bleeding and organ failure. The current epidemic is driven by the Bundibugyo variant, for which there is as yet no approved vaccine or approved treatment, according to ORF.
For travellers: from 4 November, the United States requires arriving passengers to submit a health declaration regarding any stay in DR Congo within the previous 21 days, as we reported earlier. Anyone who develops symptoms after returning from the region should consult their doctor.
Austria Now News – keeping you informed of every new development.
Illustrative image
Sources
- news.ORF.at, Ebola in DR Kongo: Schon fast 5.400 Tote, 02.11.2026, https://orf.at/stories/3446886/
