DR Congo

By 20 July the WHO called this the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record, with more than 80% of new cases now dodging contact tracing entirely. Africa CDC's own case-fatality figures rose from 39.7% on 20 July to 44.1% by 27 July, attributed to later patient presentation and overloaded treatment sites rather than a more dangerous virus.

Patient isolation, the metric modellers say matters most, fell to about 39% by 13 July even as funding arrived, well short of the 70% threshold thought to prevent a worst-case scenario; nine of twelve health posts in Djugu's Heritage health area had already shut under caseload pressure by 15 July.

On 31 July 2026 DR Congo and its neighbour closed their shared border to non-essential travel for four weeks, screening 4,772 travellers at 32 entry points. The neighbouring government also helped build two mobile laboratories and an 80-bed treatment unit just inside DRC, placing new isolation capacity closer to where cases are occurring.

The closure follows the neighbouring country's own outbreak ending on 16 July, when its last confirmed patient was discharged and a 42-day surveillance clock began, a cluster of 20 cases and 2 deaths traced to DRC's own outbreak.