WHO warns DRC Ebola outbreak could become deadliest ever recorded

The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could become the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Declared on 15 May 2026, the outbreak this year has seen at least 4,300 cases and caused more than 2,000 deaths. The WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday that the 2026 outbreak, at its current pace is likely to surpass that of the 2014-2016 occurrence, which killed at least 11,000 people.

Ghebreyesus said they hope to reverse the spread of the disease within three months not necessarily to end the outbreak completely. No approved vaccine or recognised therapeutic drugs can treat this species of the virus however the UK’s medicines regulator, the MHRA, has given permission for the first human trials of a vaccine to go ahead.