DRC Ebola outbreak in Ituri raises concern over visibility and access

Ituri is the most affected province in the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 299 confirmed cases across 15 health zones, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s June 2 update.

The ECDC said the outbreak, caused by Bundibugyo virus, continues to affect both DRC and Uganda. It reported 321 confirmed cases, 48 confirmed deaths and 116 suspected cases under investigation in DRC, based on figures published by the DRC Ministry of Health on June 1.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the same DRC confirmed case and death totals as of June 1, while also noting 116 suspected cases. The CDC said the outbreak has been confirmed in Ituri, Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces, with cases related to the DRC outbreak also reported in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.

Uganda’s figures differ slightly across supplied sources. The CDC reported 11 confirmed cases, one confirmed death, one probable case and one probable death in Uganda. ECDC reported 15 confirmed cases and one death, while IOM cited WHO figures of nine confirmed cases and one death. Those differences show how quickly outbreak data can shift as cases are investigated, confirmed and harmonised.

ECDC said data are continuously reviewed and harmonised as cases are laboratory confirmed. That process is central to the undercounting concern: suspected cases, local transmission, travel-linked cases and incomplete geographical information can leave the visible outbreak smaller than the operational risk facing clinics, families and border communities.

The International Organization for Migration warned that the Ebola response must move across borders faster than the virus. It urged governments and partners to strengthen cross-border coordination, saying border closures alone risk driving movement underground and increasing transmission risks.

IOM said reactive border closures can reduce visibility of population movements, undermining health screening, surveillance, contact tracing and early detection. Ugochi Daniels, IOM Deputy Director General for Operations, said: “Viruses do not stop at borders, and neither should our response.”

The CDC said no Ebola cases linked to this outbreak have been confirmed in the United States and that the overall risk to the American public and travellers remains low. It also noted that affected air passengers from DRC, South Sudan and Uganda would be rerouted to arrive at designated U.S. airports as part of enhanced screening and public-health measures.

The outbreak is unfolding in a region with a long Ebola history. The supplied Wikipedia excerpt notes that the 2018–2020 Kivu Ebola epidemic affected eastern DRC and Uganda, including Ituri, and became the largest Ebola outbreak in DRC’s history at that time. The current outbreak is separate, but the location and cross-border risks make early visibility critical.

The supplied evidence verifies confirmed and suspected case counts, Ituri’s role as the main affected province, Uganda-linked cases, cross-border coordination concerns and differing agency figures. It does not verify a specific WHO statement using the word undercounting, nor the exact number of unreported cases. The supported concern is that incomplete visibility, changing data and disrupted movement can weaken containment before official numbers fully capture the outbreak.