Confirmed Ebola Bundibugyo cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have risen past 700, with the DRC government reporting 710 confirmed infections and 149 deaths as of mid-June, including 21 new cases registered within a single 24-hour period [4]. Al Jazeera reported a higher tally of 782 confirmed cases [1]. The outbreak, the country's 17th, is concentrated in Ituri Province but has spread across multiple provinces and into Uganda, where the World Health Organization recorded 19 confirmed cases as of 6 June — a figure that rose to 20 in a situation report dated 7 June [3] — roughly 70 percent of them Congolese nationals who crossed the border seeking care [13].
The case count has risen from 676 confirmed infections reported on 12 June [7] to the current figures in a matter of days. Africa CDC warned that the epidemic is "loin d'être maîtrisée" (far from being controlled) [7], and WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern in mid-May [4].
Community distrust of health authorities has become a central operational barrier. At the Kpangba displacement camp in Ituri, angry residents expelled health workers who arrived to investigate deaths, denied that Ebola was the cause, and refused safe burials and contact tracing [2][18]. Jean-Claude Lonzama, chief doctor for the Nizi health zone, stated: "Up to this day, we are not able to follow up on the contacts of these cases" [2]. He warned that no preventive measures have been put in place across 22 displacement sites housing around 81,124 people [2]. A 60-year-old woman who tested positive broke out of quarantine and could not be located [2].
The distrust has at times turned violent. An angry crowd set fire to an MSF treatment tent in Mongbwalu after authorities refused to release a body to the family; 18 suspected Ebola cases fled the facility, and health workers were attacked with stones during the same confrontation [19][20]. A safe burial team was attacked in South Kivu on 4 June [3]. Human Rights Watch called for prioritizing community engagement over reliance on security forces, arguing that enforcement-led approaches deepen hostility toward public health measures [9]. The Conversation, citing academic analysis, described how bans on large funeral wakes triggered confrontations and argued that transparency, community-driven action, and pre-outbreak trust-building are essential [5].
Swahili-language reporting by RFI documented how misinformation — "taarifa potofu" — is hampering the work of health workers and NGOs across eastern DRC, with the outbreak continuing to spread to new areas [11].
Armed conflict in Ituri has compounded the crisis. Attacks by armed groups have displaced more than 100,000 people into camps that lack food, health services, clean water, and hygiene materials, according to a ReliefWeb regional overview citing Save the Children [6]. UNICEF reported providing life-saving assistance to 100,000 children and families in the province [6]. Health workers in Ituri described patients dying for lack of transport to treatment centres: "Il y a des patients qui meurent faute de transport" (There are patients who die for lack of transport) [10]. Some cases were detected as early as February and March, pointing to delays in the response [10].
Frontline responders face direct personal risk. Three Red Cross volunteers in Ituri died after contracting Ebola during their work [12]. Several healthcare workers at a private hospital in Kampala, Uganda, became infected after treating a Congolese patient, an instance of nosocomial transmission [14]. Florent Uzzeni, MSF's emergency deputy for Switzerland coordinating the Ebola response in Ituri, stated: "Il reste encore beaucoup de travail à faire" (There is still much work to be done), citing detection delays and a lack of resources [17].
No licensed vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain. The existing Ervebo vaccine, developed for the Zaire strain of Ebola, lacks sufficient cross-protection data, and a WHO expert group decided not to deploy it, instead prioritizing two Bundibugyo-specific candidates for clinical trials [16]. MSF treatment centres in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu are operating without either a vaccine or a proven therapeutic [8]. CEPI announced approximately $62 million in fast-track funding for three experimental Bundibugyo vaccine candidates, but clinical trials remain months away [15]. Moderna is developing one of those candidates and may receive up to $50 million of that CEPI envelope [4], and Gavi and the World Bank pandemic fund have pledged additional support [4].
The funding picture remains uneven. WHO and Africa CDC launched a joint $518 million response plan for Central Africa [21]. Yet the broader UN humanitarian appeal for the DRC is only 34 percent funded [21]. Uzzeni described persistent shortages of means and logistical failures that current funding has not resolved [17].
The WHO situation report as of 7 June recorded 550 laboratory-confirmed cases and 101 deaths in the DRC, with 229 new cases in the preceding week alone, and noted that contact follow-up coverage remains suboptimal [3]. The gap between that figure and the DRC government's 710-case count reported a week later reflects the pace of new infections. Uganda's Ministry of Health has implemented surveillance, contact tracing, and health-worker protection measures, but WHO assessed the risk in Uganda as high due to continued cross-border movement [13][14].
The next phase of the response hinges on whether community engagement can replace confrontation in displacement camps, and on whether experimental vaccines can move from laboratory to field before the outbreak spreads further. No timeline for the start of clinical trials has been publicly announced [15].