Ebola (Bundibugyo) in DR Congo, 2026

by @chrisjager · 16 May 2026 – 11 Oct 2026

Read the article: The 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo, Mapped by Health Zone

About this map

How the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak spread through the health zones of eastern and northern DR Congo: from three zones in Ituri in mid-May to 65 zones in seven provinces by mid-October, with exported cases in Uganda and Kenya. Each health zone (zone de santé, the unit DRC's health system reports by) is coloured by the month of its first confirmed case: red May, orange June, yellow July, green August, teal September, cyan October. Grey: the zones of an affected province that have no confirmed case (yet). Circles mark Uganda's 20 confirmed cases in Kampala (May–June; declared over on 28 July) and Kenya's single imported case in Nairobi (October); the line traces that traveller's route from Buta via Kisangani, Beni and Kampala. The bar counts confirmed deaths in DRC. Simplifications: confirmed cases only, no probable or suspected cases. A zone is coloured from the first date a source lists it as affected, and appears at the next keyframe; keyframes follow the weekly WHO situation reports, so dates are rounded to the sitrep week. Zone boundaries are OpenStreetMap's (2021). The newest zone, Dakwa (first case 8 October), is not in that boundary data and is drawn as Ango zone, which WHO shades on its map. Cases evacuated to Germany, France and the Netherlands appear only in the event notes. Sources: WHO AFRO weekly external situation reports 1–22 and WHO Disease Outbreak News; DRC Ministry of Health / INSP daily situation reports 1–151; ECDC; UKHSA "Outbreaks under monitoring"; Wikipedia. Health zones: OpenStreetMap RDC zones de santé via HDX (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), provinces from GRID3 COD Health Zones v9.0 (CC BY).

Text version: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/ebola-bundibugyo-in-dr-congo-2026.md

Timeline

DateWhat the map shows
16 May 202616 May · Outbreak declared in 3 Ituri zones
18 May 202618 May · Ebola reaches Goma, Butembo and Katwa
24 May 202624 May · 13 zones; South Kivu (Miti-Murhesa)
31 May 202631 May · 23 zones in 3 provinces
7 Jun 20267 Jun · 25 zones, 550 confirmed cases
14 Jun 202614 Jun · 31 zones; spread west to Nia-Nia
21 Jun 202621 Jun · 34 zones, over 1,000 cases
28 Jun 202628 Jun · 35 zones; Mandima
5 Jul 20265 Jul · First case in Haut-Uélé (Wamba)
12 Jul 202612 Jul · Haut-Uélé and Tshopo: 5 provinces
19 Jul 202619 Jul · 47 zones; Isiro
26 Jul 202626 Jul · 48 zones, 3,262 cases
2 Aug 20262 Aug · Uganda over; 51 zones
9 Aug 20269 Aug · 53 zones
16 Aug 202616 Aug · Bas-Uélé (Buta): 6 provinces
23 Aug 202623 Aug · 57 zones, 5,584 cases
30 Aug 202630 Aug · 60 zones, nearly 3,000 deaths
6 Sep 20266 Sep · 61 zones; Kayna
13 Sep 202613 Sep · Sud-Ubangi (Bulu): 7 provinces
20 Sep 202620 Sep · 63 zones; Dungu
27 Sep 202627 Sep · 63 zones, 8,116 cases
3 Oct 20263 Oct · Infected traveller flies to Nairobi
6 Oct 20266 Oct · Kenya confirms a case; 64 zones
11 Oct 202611 Oct · 65 zones, 9,066 cases

Layers

Health zones not (yet) affected in an affected province · First case in May 2026 · First case in June 2026 · First case in July 2026 · First case in August 2026 · First case in September 2026 · First case in October 2026 · Uganda: 20 confirmed cases in Kampala (May–June) · Route of the case exported to Kenya (2–3 Oct) · Kenya: one imported case in Nairobi (October)

Events

  • 15 May 2026, DRC declares its 17th Ebola outbreak: 15 May: the Kinshasa reference lab (INRB) identifies Bundibugyo virus in samples from Rwampara, and the health ministry declares an outbreak in the Rwampara, Mongbwalu and Bunia health zones of Ituri: 8 confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths among them. The first suspected case fell ill…
  • 16 May 2026, Uganda: imported cases in Kampala: Uganda confirms a fatal imported case in Kampala on 15 May and a second, unlinked one on 16 May, both travellers from DRC. Uganda ends with 20 confirmed cases (15 imported, 5 local) and 2 deaths in Kampala and Wakiso; the last case is dated 21 June.
  • 17 May 2026, WHO declares a public health emergency of international concern: 17 May: WHO's Director-General declares the DRC–Uganda outbreak a PHEIC (a corrigendum moved the date from 16 May). The same day an American doctor who had treated patients at Nyankunde tests positive; he is evacuated to the Charité in Berlin and recovers.
  • 18 May 2026, Ebola reaches North Kivu: 18 May: 33 confirmed cases and 4 deaths in 7 health zones: Rwampara, Bunia, Nyankunde and Mongbwalu in Ituri, and one case each in Butembo, Katwa and Goma in North Kivu, the heart of the 2018–2020 Ebola epidemic.
  • 28 Jul 2026, Uganda declares its outbreak over: 28 July: Uganda's health ministry declares the end of its outbreak, 42 days after its last local patient left hospital: 20 confirmed cases and 2 deaths. WHO and Africa CDC count from the last imported patient's discharge (16 July) and confirm the end on 27 August. In DRC the count stands at about 3,…
  • 12 Aug 2026, Sixth province: Bas-Uélé: 12–13 August: a confirmed case in Buta health zone, Bas-Uélé, who had travelled from Haut-Uélé, dies. The outbreak now covers 54 health zones in 6 provinces, with 4,665 confirmed cases and 2,184 deaths.
  • 10 Sep 2026, Seventh province: Sud-Ubangi: 10 September: a case is reported in Bulu health zone, Sud-Ubangi, about 1,000 km west of the epicentre; the man died in Gwaka. WHO lists Bulu and Dungu (Haut-Uélé) as the newly affected zones on 25 September: 63 zones in 7 provinces, 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths.
  • 3 Oct 2026, An infected traveller flies to Nairobi: A Kenyan who had lived in DRC and had been ill for about a month travels by road via Beni to Kampala (2 October) and flies from Entebbe to Nairobi on 3 October. WHO traces his journey from Buta via Kisangani and Beni.
  • 6 Oct 2026, Kenya confirms its first case: The traveller tests positive and dies on 5 October in Nairobi; Kenya's health ministry announces the case on 6 October and quarantines more than 100 contacts, including fellow passengers. DRC that day: 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths in 64 of 167 health zones in 7 provinces.
  • 11 Oct 2026, 65 health zones in 7 provinces: By 12 October DRC counts 9,144 confirmed cases and 4,410 confirmed deaths in 65 of the 167 health zones of the seven affected provinces, the largest Bundibugyo outbreak on record. Most cases are in Ituri (6,734); the hardest-hit zones are Bunia (1,848 cases), Rwampara (1,134), Nizi (816), Mongbwalu…