A health worker takes the temperature of a woman passing through the Kanyaruchinya checkpoint, as authorities and aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, in the northern entry into the city of Goma, North Kivu province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 20, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A case of Ebola has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province— hundreds of kilometres from the outbreak’s epicentre— the rebel alliance that controls the area said on Thursday (May 21, 2026).
The case, in a rural area near the provincial capital Bukavu, signals the spread of an outbreak that experts believe circulated undetected for around two months in Ituri province, several hundred kilometres to the north, before being identified last week.
The outbreak has been linked to 139 deaths, with 600 suspected cases reported in Ituri and North Kivu provinces as of Wednesday (May 20, 2026), according to the World Health Organization. Two cases have also been confirmed in neighbouring Uganda.
The Alliance Fleuve Congo, which includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who seized swathes of eastern DRC last year, said that the 28-year-old patient had died and been buried safely.
It said the individual had travelled from the northern city of Kisangani, but gave no details of recent movements.
South Kivu health spokesperson Claude Bahizire told Reuters earlier on Thursday that two suspected cases had been detected in the province, including the fatal case. The other patient was in isolation awaiting test results, he said.
An Ebola case was also confirmed last week in Goma, the capital of neighbouring North Kivu province, which is under M23 control.
Uganda criticises U.S. travel ban
This time, first responders say they lack basic supplies, which some have attributed to foreign aid cuts by major donors that have weakened local health services and disease surveillance.
Britain said on Thursday it was allocating up to 20 million pounds ($27 million) to the response. The United States, which gave around $600 million to the 2018-2020 response, has so far committed $23 million and said on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) it would help open up to 50 clinics in DRC and Uganda.
Uganda’s Health Ministry said late on Wednesday it had not been consulted by the United States on plans to establish clinics, and stressed there is no known local transmission.
Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi told Reuters the U.S. was “overreacting” by banning most travellers from Uganda, along with DRC and South Sudan, earlier this week.
“We’ve handled cases of Ebola at other epidemics for a number of years,” he said. “There is capacity within the country to contain these epidemics.”
Published – May 21, 2026 10:38 pm IST
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