Geneva — World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is deeply worried about the speed and scale of a new Ebola outbreak as case numbers rise.
He reported at least 500 suspected cases and about 130 suspected deaths since this outbreak began, and warned that those totals are likely to change as response teams scale up operations. The figures come alongside one confirmed case and one confirmed death in Kampala, Uganda, linked to two people who traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and roughly 30 confirmed cases in the DRC’s northeastern Ituri province.
Tedros told delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva that teams are strengthening surveillance, contact tracing and laboratory testing in the field to refine the counts and contain spread. The WHO’s Emergency Committee, a panel of international experts that advises the director-general, is scheduled to meet to assess the situation and offer technical recommendations.
Officials cited several reasons for heightened concern: cases have been detected in urban centers such as Kampala and Goma, transmission is occurring in the conflict-affected Ituri region, and infections among health workers point to healthcare-associated spread. Those dynamics increase the risk that the outbreak could grow without rapid, coordinated public health action.
WHO and partners are ramping up preparedness and response measures, including border screening, community surveillance and support for local health services, while urging continued vigilance and international cooperation to limit further transmission.
