Text-Only Version Go To Full Site NPR > Africa # Ebola cases rise in Congo, as government revives travel restrictions By Emmet Livingstone Updated Monday, June 8, 2026 • 2:40 PM EDT Heard on Morning Edition KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed 27 new Ebola cases, according to a report released late on Sunday, warning that protective measures need to be scaled up quickly. Congo's National Institute for Public Health (INSP) said the country now has 515 confirmed Ebola cases, following the 27 new infections reported within a 24-hour period. The total number of confirmed deaths is now 91. More than 94% of the recorded cases are in Ituri, a province in eastern Congo plagued by some of the country's most violent armed groups, such as the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, which is affiliated with the Islamic State. The threat posed by these armed groups is making the health response much more complicated. But Ituri's health system is also dire, and it's hard to get around given the few paved roads in the province. As aid workers struggle amid trying circumstances, European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib visited Ituri for several hours on Sunday to show support to people on the ground. "We need to be able to provide diagnoses more quickly," she told reporters, in Congo's national language, French. She added that treatment outcomes were better for those who sought medical help early. "Many patients arrive with situations that are already dire, so it's much harder to save them." On Friday, Congolese health authorities had also warned of "rapid community spread" of the disease after discovering 71 new cases of Ebola. Since the government first declared an outbreak on May 15, the disease has spread to 17 out of 36 health zones in Ituri. The provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, both in eastern Congo, have also recorded cases. There are also confirmed cases in Uganda, a neighboring country that shares a long land border with Ituri — although the scale of the outbreak there is much smaller. Ugandan health authorities have so far recorded 19 Ebola cases. With the virus still spreading quickly, Congo reimposed travel restrictions to and from Ituri's capital city, Bunia, on Saturday, according to an official Congolese aviation notice consulted by NPR. The government has not publicly announced the reasons behind the decision. However, there are fears that the outbreak in eastern Congo is much larger than the official figures suggest. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modeled how far the virus could spread in a new study published on Friday. According to some scenarios, the ongoing outbreak in Congo could rival the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic. That outbreak was the worst in recorded history, with more than 28,000 reported cases and about 11,300 deaths. For example, the U.S. CDC projected that if only 20% of patients during the current outbreak in Congo are isolated, there is a 65% chance of case numbers exceeding 20,000 within just three months. Despite rising international alarm, Congo's government insists that the situation is under control. It has repeatedly been pointed out that the country successfully overcame 16 previous Ebola outbreaks. Some patients have also begun to recover, offering a glimmer of hope. Congolese health authorities said this weekend that three patients had left the hospital, with the total number of recovered patients in the country rising to 12. And on Saturday, American doctor Peter Stafford — who contracted Ebola in eastern Congo and was evacuated for treatment in Germany — was cleared to leave quarantine after repeatedly testing negative for the disease. * * * ### Transcript A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: African health officials are warning that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading faster than any other in history. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says the pace of spread is even outstripping the early trajectory of the 2014 West Africa epidemic. Health workers at the epicenter are still operating with limited resources as aid agencies scramble to contain the outbreak. MARTÍNEZ: Reporter Emmet Livingstone is in the DRC capital of Kinshasa. Emmet, tell us just how bad the situation is. EMMET LIVINGSTONE: The situation is pretty bad, and health workers are still fighting an uphill battle to bring this outbreak under control. Since it was declared on May 15, confirmed cases of Ebola have spread across a wide expanse. Ituri, a province in eastern Congo about the size of West Virginia, is the epicenter of the outbreak with about 94% of recorded cases in Congo. And according to Congolese health authorities, the virus has now spread to half of the province's health zones. Now, it's hard to gauge the scale of this crisis, but there are clues that suggest it's much larger than the official figures suggest. Over the weekend, 71 new cases were confirmed across three provinces in eastern Congo, and this jump, according to Congolese health authorities, show that there is, quote, "rapid and ongoing" community transmission. The Congolese government has stopped publishing figures on the total number of suspected cases, but aid officials say that they suspect them to be in the thousands. MARTÍNEZ: Wow. How's the health response going? LIVINGSTONE: So there's a massive international effort to stop the spread of the virus that's underway with financing from the U.S., the EU, U.N. and NGOs. But according to health workers, this is still really in its early days. Ituri has been decimated by decades of conflict, and its health infrastructure is extremely weak. In Mongbwalu, the town the worst hit by the virus, NGOs have started building new treatment facilities from the ground up in order to handle the number of cases. So at the moment, in some instances, Ebola patients are turning up to hospitals that are essentially construction sites. And another massive challenge is isolating suspected Ebola cases and also contact tracing. According to the latest figures, health workers are only managing to trace the contacts of about 40% of the confirmed cases in Ituri. Dozens of people have also left treatment centers and returned to their communities. But there is some good news. Testing capacity, which was a huge problem in the initial weeks of the outbreak, has recently improved. MARTÍNEZ: And some people are being healed, though. LIVINGSTONE: Right. So some people are recovering from Ebola. On Saturday, Peter Stafford, an American doctor who had contracted Ebola in eastern Congo and was evacuated to Germany, was released from a medical facility after repeated negative tests. Inside Congo, too, some patients are getting better. Health authorities said that over the weekend, three new people had been healed, bringing the total number to 12. And what this shows is that the virus isn't necessarily a death sentence. It's still extremely dangerous, but the species of Ebola virus that's circulating appears to have a slightly lower mortality rate than more common variants. Experts are saying that the chances of recovery are much higher if patients seek appropriate medical care early. But really, that's the whole problem in a nutshell - access to appropriate medical care. MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's Emmet Livingstone in Kinshasa. Emmet, thank you very much. LIVINGSTONE: Thank you. Topics * News * Culture * Music * Contact Us * Terms of Use * Permissions * Privacy Policy (C) NPR