Overview
- The World Health Organization reported on June 6 that combined totals stand at 471 confirmed cases and 84 deaths, with 452 cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 19 in Uganda.
- DRC health authorities recorded a sharp rise on June 4 when they reported 71 new confirmed cases and 21 deaths concentrated in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, showing rapid community spread.
- Contact tracing is incomplete: only 2,755 of 4,766 identified contacts—57.8 percent—have been followed up, leaving large gaps in detection and isolation.
- Response capacity is strained because the outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo virus for which no licensed vaccines or strain-specific treatments exist, and 34 health workers have been infected with seven deaths.
- WHO and Africa CDC launched a US$518 million continental response plan to scale surveillance, labs, safe care and community engagement, while US CDC models warn the outbreak could grow much larger without rapid, stronger interventions.