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12-07-2026
KINSHASA: At least 600 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have died from Ebola, as the number of confirmed cases of the illness rose to 1,759, according to government data.
The total numbers, released on Wednesday, were confirmed as of Tuesday, while 51 new cases and 20 deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours.
The total of those infected does not include two cases of illness reported in Kisangani, the capital of the Tshopo province and one of the DRC’s biggest cities, as the test results were being validated, the government’s report said. They will be included in the official case total once confirmed.
One of those two cases is linked to the village of Nia-Nia in the Ituri province, where the first illnesses were reported but the second illness “does not appear to have a geographic link” beyond Kisangani, according to the government.
As the situation worsens, healthcare workers in the Ituri province, the hardest-hit of the country’s three eastern regions affected by the outbreak, are walking off their jobs to protest against delay in payments.
In an official notice to national and provincial authorities over the weekend, front-line workers in Ituri threatened to strike if they were not paid in 24 hours. By Tuesday, some had already stopped working, although no official strike has been declared, media reported.
Some of the health professionals and other front-line workers told AP they had not been paid wages or bonuses since the Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15. They also said they were working with limited gear and treated unfairly by authorities and response teams.
“Since the Ebola virus disease outbreak was declared, we’ve been demanding payment for our work,” Dr Biensi Kano, a member of the epidemiological surveillance committee in Ituri’s capital, Bunia, told media.
The strike comes at the start of the enrolment for clinical trials for the treatment of the Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for this outbreak. The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is generally considered less deadly than some others, but there is no approved vaccine.
By the time the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May, the virus had already been spreading undetected for weeks through the mining towns of Mongbwalu, Rwampara and Bunia, before reaching neighboring provinces, journalist Catherine Wambua-Soi reported from the DRC earlier this month.
The crisis in the province has been further compounded by front-line health workers threatening to go on strike on Monday over unpaid benefits and poor working conditions.
In a notice to the government, a copy of which was seen by media, workers both in and outside hospitals said they had not been paid benefits since the outbreak began and they do not have adequate supplies for their work.
They also complained of poor salaries, the “arrogance” of teams sent from the DR Congo’s capital of Kinshasa, and the “excessive” use of labor from other provinces without prioritizing local labor in Ituri, as well as the lack of adequate equipment.
The virus is also present in the provinces near North Kivu and South Kivu, where the provincial capitals and large swathes of territory are controlled by the anti-government armed group M23.
In North Kivu, the mortality rate of 57.4 percent, significantly higher than the average, is considered “worrying” by Congolese health authorities.
In South Kivu province, no cases have been confirmed since May 26. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
