Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have announced that the first two patients treated for Ebola in the Bulape health zone, Kasai Province, have fully recovered and been discharged from the local treatment centre.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa disclosed this on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday, describing the development as a significant step forward in the country’s efforts to contain the virus, which resurfaced in the region earlier this month.
According to WHO, the recoveries were achieved through strengthened clinical care and rapid response measures rolled out in the past week.
These interventions were coordinated by the DR Congo Ministry of Health with support from WHO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), ALIMA, and other humanitarian partners on the ground.
“@MinSanteRDC—with support from @WHO, @MSF, @ALIMA_ORG and other partners—has accelerated response actions to improve the quality of clinical care over the past week. Appropriate control measures are being rolled out to curb the spread of the virus, save lives, and end the outbreak as quickly as possible,” the WHO posted.
Health authorities in DR Congo had declared the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kasai Province on September 4.
The crisis adds to the overlapping health and humanitarian emergencies across Central and West Africa, including cholera outbreaks, malnutrition, and displacement.
The DR Congo’s last Ebola outbreak occurred in April 2022 in the north-western Equateur Province and was brought under control within three months.
Kasai Province previously recorded outbreaks in 2007 and 2008. Overall, the country has faced 15 Ebola outbreaks since the disease was first identified in 1976.
Ebola virus disease is a rare but severe and often fatal illness in humans. It is transmitted to people through close contact with blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected animals, particularly fruit bats believed to be the natural hosts.
Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person—alive or deceased—or through contaminated objects and remains.
As of September 4, 2025, WHO reported 28 suspected cases, including 15 deaths (a case fatality ratio of 54 per cent), across three areas of the Bulape health zone—Bulape, Bulape Com, and Dikolo—and the Mweka health zone.
Among the deaths were four healthcare workers. About 80 per cent of suspected cases were aged 15 years and older.
Meanwhile, the global health body confirmed that an initial 400 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine, drawn from a stockpile of 2,000 doses pre-positioned in the capital Kinshasa, have been delivered to Bulape, one of the hotspots of the outbreak.
Additional doses are expected to be distributed to other affected localities in the coming days.
