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Situation at a glance
Since the last Disease Outbreak News was published on 11 September 2026, the Bundibugyo virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has expanded further, with two additional health zones affected.
These include Bulu health zone in a new province, Sud Ubangi, located on the north-west part of the country and Dungu health zone in Haut-Uélé province, bordering South Sudan.
This brings the total number of affected health zones to 63 across seven provinces out of 26 provinces of the country: Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Sud Ubangi and Tshopo.
This latest geographic expansion increases the risk of cross-border transmission.
As of 23 September 2026, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 7890 confirmed cases, including 3799 deaths, resulting in a crude case fatality ratio (CFR) of 48.1%.
At the national level, the number of new cases reported each day remains high. However, the situation varies across the country, with some provinces and health zones experiencing much higher levels of transmission than others.
The continuously high CFR, and especially the continuous high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care.
These delays can contribute to preventable illness and deaths among people in affected and newly affected areas, while also allowing transmission to continue within households, communities, and healthcare settings.
Description of the situation
Since the previous Disease Outbreak News was published on 11 September 2026, an additional 1133 confirmed cases, including 532 confirmed deaths, have been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The seven-day moving average shows a resurgence in early September followed by a decline over the most recent reporting days.
However, the aggregate national trend conceals substantial variation in transmission intensity across affected provinces and health zones.
As of 23 September, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported a total of 7890 confirmed cases, including 3799 deaths (CFR 48.1%).
A total of 1966 patients have recovered to date.
Confirmed cases have been reported from 63 health zones across seven provinces, with 48 health zones from six provinces reporting at least one case in the last 21 days.
Ituri remains the most affected province, with 28 of its 36 health zones reporting cases, followed by North Kivu (16/34), Tshopo (7/23), Haut-Uélé (7/13), Bas-Uélé (3/11), South Kivu (1/34), and Sud Ubangi (1/16).
No new cases have been reported from South Kivu province since 29 May 2026.
Dungu Health Zone in Haut-Uélé province and Bulu in Sud Ubangi are the most recently affected areas.
As of 23 September, 70 new confirmed cases had been reported in the preceding 24 hours from 26 health zones located in Ituri, North Kivu, Haut-Uélé, Bas Uélé and Tshopo provinces.
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Ituri continues to be the epicentre of the outbreak, accounting for 6032 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak, including 868 new confirmed cases reported in the previous 21 days, as of 23 September.
North Kivu is the second most affected province, with a cumulative number of 1480 confirmed cases, including 567 reported in the last 21 days, as of 23 September.
North Kivu province continues to report the highest CFR (59.7%) observed in this outbreak; and investigations are ongoing to better understand the factors contributing to this elevated mortality rate.
In Ituri, case incidence continues to decline gradually from the peak observed in mid-August, although transmission remains at elevated levels.
North Kivu, in contrast, has experienced a substantial increase in incidence, reaching its highest reported level in mid-September, followed by a decline in recent reporting days.
Haut-Uélé continues to demonstrate sustained transmission, albeit at levels below the peak recorded in late August, while Tshopo is showing renewed transmission activity following a period of low incidence.
In Bas-Uélé, transmission remains sporadic, whereas no recent evidence of transmission has been reported in Sud-Kivu.
Sud Ubangi is the seventh province to report a confirmed case of BVD, with one case that was reported on 10 September (Figure 2).
The number of individuals requiring follow-up as contact has also risen considerably with the expansion of the outbreak.
As of 23 September, 83.4% of identified contacts were successfully monitored during the previous 24 hours with 26 980 contacts seen out of 32 342 requiring follow up.
The large volume of contacts under surveillance highlights the extent of potential exposure within affected communities and the substantial demands placed on response operations.
The response is being implemented in a challenging humanitarian environment, where conflict, insecurity, displacement, and limited access to basic services continue to affect outbreak control. These constraints continue to hamper surveillance, case finding, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, and timely access to appropriate care, thereby limiting the overall effectiveness of response activities.
Figure 2: Number of confirmed Bundibugyo virus disease cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, by date of notification, as of 23 September 2026
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Figure 3: Number of deaths among confirmed Bundibugyo virus disease cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by date of notification, as of 23 September 2026.
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WHO risk assessment
On 14 August 2026, WHO reassessed the risk of the outbreak of BVD, incorporating newly available information on the evolving situation.
The risk for countries sharing land borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo was separated from the risk for other countries in the African Region.
The risk in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assessed as very high, the risk for countries sharing land borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assessed as high, and the risks for the rest of the African region and at the global level was again assessed as low.
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Source:
Link: https://www/who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak.news.item/2026-DON618
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