The key facts

  • More than 10,400 people have been infected in the DR Congo, about 5,400 have died, and the fatality rate is 51.6% (data from the DR Congo Ministry of Health citing Bloomberg).
  • The authorities call the outbreak the deadliest and largest in the country's history.
  • The main epicenter is Ituri province; isolated cases have been recorded in Uganda, Kenya and France.

Record fatality rate in the DR Congo

The number of Ebola fever cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached 10,400 people, of whom about 5,400 have died. The fatality rate stands at 51.6%. The figures come from the country's ministry of health, as reported by Bloomberg (summary — Kun.uz). Officials in the DR Congo acknowledge that the current outbreak is the deadliest and largest in the country's history.

Geography of the spread

The main epicenter of the infection remains Ituri province in eastern DR Congo — it accounts for the majority of infection cases. Although most of the sick and deceased are in the DR Congo, cases of the virus have also been recorded in Uganda, Kenya and France. Sources do not report on the scale of the spread in these countries or the number of victims beyond them.

Context: why a high fatality rate is dangerous

Ebola is not the deadliest virus: rabies almost always ends in death once symptoms appear, and in some outbreaks of Marburg virus disease the fatality rate reached 80–90%. As Kun.uz explains, a high fatality rate does not by itself mean an equally high risk to the population: such viruses are hard to transmit from person to person, and their spread can be stopped quickly. On the contrary, the greatest overall loss of life comes from viruses with a low fatality rate but high contagiousness — for example, influenza and COVID-19.