The Bundibugyo outbreak continues to grow in the DRC. But this week brought two critical scientific milestones: the first treatment trial for this strain enrolled its first patient, and the WHO authorized the first diagnostic test.
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Infectious Diseases in Focus →As of July 4–5, 2026, the Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached 1,561 confirmed cases and 506 confirmed deaths — making it the third-largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history. The WHO representative in Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province at the center of the outbreak, stated this week: "We would like to say it is stabilising, but frankly, we cannot say it yet."
This update covers the current numbers, the significant scientific developments of the week of July 2nd, and the state of the response on the ground.
| Location | Confirmed Cases | Deaths | Recovered | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DRC (total) | 1,561 | 506 | 254 | Still growing |
| Uganda | 20 | 2 | 16 | Stabilizing — last case June 21 |
| France | 1 (imported) | 0 | — | No new cases |
The DRC outbreak, which began in Ituri Province, has now spread to North Kivu and South Kivu — provinces characterized by active armed conflict, population displacement, and severely overstretched health systems. More than 10,000 contacts are currently under monitoring.
The most significant development of this week is the enrollment of the first patient in the PARTNERS clinical trial on July 2, 2026. This is the first randomized controlled trial of any therapeutic specifically for Bundibugyo virus disease — a milestone that matters because, unlike Ebola Zaire (for which Inmazeb and Ebanga are approved), Bundibugyo has no approved vaccine and no proven treatment.
PARTNERS stands for Platform Adaptive Randomised Trial for New and Repurposed Filovirus TreatmentS. It is coordinated by three institutions — the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in the DRC, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom — and is sponsored by the WHO with support from Africa CDC and delivered in partnership with ALIMA and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Also on July 2nd, the WHO added the first molecular diagnostic test specifically for Bundibugyo virus to its Emergency Use Listing — the first test for this strain to receive official WHO authorization for use in outbreak settings.
This matters operationally. A WHO-validated diagnostic tool improves the speed, accuracy, and consistency of case confirmation across the outbreak zone, supports decentralized testing, and enables more reliable surveillance data for response planning.
The response has made measurable progress since the outbreak was declared in May:
Testing capacity has expanded dramatically — from 30 tests per day in Kinshasa at outbreak onset to more than 2,000 per day, through 10 decentralized laboratories now operating in the affected provinces, with the most recent laboratory opening in Bunia itself.
Contact tracing has improved, with follow-ups now conducted for four out of every five identified contacts — though the WHO noted that more contacts still need to be identified and traced.
Treatment capacity has grown from a handful of beds at outbreak onset to more than 500 beds across 19 health zones.
The challenges remain serious. Active armed conflict between the Alliance Fleuve Congo/M23 movement and the Congolese Army continues in parts of North Kivu, obstructing access and security for response teams. Community mistrust — including the burning of an Ebola treatment center in May — has been an operational obstacle since the earliest days of the outbreak. And the $18 million funding gap for the research program remains unmet.