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Congo health ministry counts 6,186 Ebola cases

September 2, 2026

Ebola has killed 3,007 people in Congo among 6,186 confirmed infections, ministry counts show, with the emergency dating to mid-May and the spread still widening.

AP News reports that Congo authorities have confirmed more than 6,000 Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths, with ministry data putting the count at 6,186 confirmed cases and 3,007 deaths since the outbreak was declared a global health emergency in mid-May. NBC News, ABC News, Reuters and The Washington Post carry the same figures. Reuters ties the toll above 3,000 to government data, and The Washington Post presents an outbreak that has not slowed. AP News also reports that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found containment work falling short of its response targets, with the spread across many health zones pointing to expansion that is no longer controlled.

The outlets corroborate the reasons for that spread. AP News reports conflict in the east, attacks on health workers, miners in constant movement and weak health infrastructure. NBC News adds insecurity, displacement, a health workers' strike and heavy population movement, and reports an attack on a response team outside Mambasa in Ituri province on Saturday while it answered a call to secure a body. Both accounts agree on the burial problem. Bodies remain highly contagious, funerals gather crowds, and Congolese authorities have made burial of suspected victims the state's task wherever possible, which families and friends sometimes protest. NBC News reports that the government has installed health and sanitary equipment at some locations, while advocacy groups press for more work to build community trust.

On the medicine, AP News reports that the outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola with no approved vaccine or treatment, though the World Health Organization says Ervebo could offer some protection. NBC News reports the WHO assessment that the outbreak remains out of control and is on track to pass the 2014-16 West Africa outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Uganda declared itself free of Ebola last month, and the WHO said last week that cross-border spread remains a risk. The counts, the causes and the response failures are corroborated across the coverage. What the record does not carry is any measure of where the outbreak goes next.

Still developing

The record holds nothing unresolved on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control assessment at the time of draft, and no account offers a different figure or framing.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 100% · Contested 0% · Developing 0%

Sources