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Congo Ebola outbreak may be worst ever, Africa CDC says

By Reuters Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Congolese healthcare workers participate in an accelerated training session, at the newly built Samaritan's Purse International Relief tents, at the Scott Powell Memorial Ebola Treatment Center, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus, in Bunia town, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Congolese healthcare workers participate in an accelerated training session, at the newly built Samaritan's Purse International Relief tents, at the Scott Powell Memorial Ebola Treatment Center, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus, in Bunia town, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo Gradel Muyisa Mumbere Reuters

NAIROBI/DAKAR - The head of Africa's Centres for Disease ​Control and Prevention warned on Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in Congo could be the worst ever, saying that currently tens of thousands of contacts of those ill with the disease had not been traced.

"If we don't stop the outbreak very soon it will be worse than what we had in West Africa and eastern DRC," Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya told a virtual meeting of African heads of state in Burundi.

He was referring to the outbreak that affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014-2016 that killed over 11,000 people and a less deadly 2018 outbreak in Congo.

(Reporting by Emma Farge and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Alison Williams)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 9:05 AM.

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