Overview
- The outbreak has reached about 1,561 confirmed cases and 506 confirmed deaths, health authorities reported on Monday, with transmission concentrated in Ituri and cases recorded in North Kivu, South Kivu and neighbouring Uganda.
- The World Health Organization and partners launched an adaptive 'Partners' trial in early July that will randomize confirmed patients to remdesivir, MBP134, the combination, or optimized supportive care and has already enrolled its first participant.
- Frontline response is under severe strain as health teams face attacks, vandalism, overcrowded treatment centres and a brief strike by Ituri workers over unpaid benefits and poor supplies that briefly disrupted operations.
- Laboratory capacity has been scaled up rapidly with WHO and Africa CDC support so that more than 2,000 tests per day can now be run across regional labs and the first molecular diagnostic for Bundibugyo received emergency use listing.
- Regional and economic risks are rising: the virus has produced exported cases to France and Uganda, international aid teams including Chinese expert groups are mobilizing, and a UNDP assessment warns of billions in losses and nearly one million people pushed into poverty if disruption continues.