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A weekly development news platform published by UrgeDevWire, produced by Urge Communications. Covering wider East African region.

Inside Health News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire

Ebola Outbreak Surpasses 1,155 Confirmed Cases as WHO Launches Therapeutics Trial

KINSHASA / KAMPALA, 26 June 2026 — The Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda continued to expand through the final week of June, with the DRC Ministry of Health reporting 1,155 confirmed cases and 304 confirmed deaths as of 25 June. A further 385 patients were hospitalised in isolation as of 24 June. The DRC recorded 37 new confirmed cases and five new deaths in the 48 hours preceding the 26 June European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control update.

Transmission remains concentrated in Ituri Province, which accounts for 1,054 of all confirmed cases across 22 health zones. North Kivu has recorded 98 confirmed cases from 11 health zones; South Kivu has reported three cases from one health zone. No new health zones were reported in either province in the final week of June. Uganda, which confirmed its first imported cases in Kampala on 15 and 16 May, has reported 19 confirmed cases and one probable case, with two deaths. The WHO noted Uganda had not reported any new cases since 5 June. A senior WHO official who spent three weeks in the country described encouraging signs, including strong community cooperation and the recovery and discharge of multiple patients.

On 24 June, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that preparations were complete for a clinical trial of two candidate therapeutics — the monoclonal antibody MBP134, developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, and the antiviral remdesivir, developed by Gilead Sciences. The trial, set to begin the following week at a hospital in Ituri Province, will evaluate both drugs individually and in combination. Doses were donated by the United States government and Gilead Sciences. No approved vaccine or therapeutic exists for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola. Since the PHEIC declaration on 17 May, laboratory capacity in the DRC has expanded from 30 tests per day to over 2,000 per day across nine laboratories in three provinces. Treatment bed capacity increased from fewer than 10 to over 500.

Source: WHO Disease Outbreak News, ECDC Threat Assessment,

Inside Health News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire