Tracking DR Congo's Deadliest Ebola Outbreak on Record

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has reached 5,000 cases, government data showed Wednesday, as responders warn it is spreading at an unprecedented speed outpacing efforts to slow it in one of the country's remotest regions. 

Data from the country's Ministry of Health showed the outbreak had so far recorded 5,021 cases, including 2,378 deaths as of Sunday, as it rages in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fueled by insecurity, displacement and intense population movements.

And it has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with the number of fatalities surpassing the toll recorded during the last major epidemic in eastern DR Congo.

That outbreak, declared on August 01, 2018 and brought to an end in June 2020, resulted in 3,323 confirmed cases and 2,299 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It was the world’s second-largest Ebola contagion on record. 

The current outbreak has reached that grim milestone far more quickly. The DR Congo declared an Ebola outbreak on May 15, marking the country’s 17th recorded outbreak since the virus was first identified there in 1976. 

A recent genetic study published in Nature Medicine also found that the Bundibugyo virus behind the illness is genetically distinct from variants detected during previous Bundibugyo outbreaks in the region, suggesting it likely emerged through a new animal-to-human transmission. The animal source has not yet been identified. 

The latest government figures show the virus has now spread across 55 health zones in six provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, and Tshopo. Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak, remains by far the hardest-hit province. 

Malaysian women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan's hopes of defending their 2026 World Championships silver medal came to an abrupt end after they were knocked out by Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in New Delhi on Thursday. 

The fifth seeds fell 20-22, 21-18, 21-12 to the 13th seeds in their women's doubles last-16 clash. 

It was only Pearly-Thinaah's second defeat in seven meetings against the Indonesians, having entered the contest with a dominant 5-1 head-to-head record. Their most recent encounter had gone firmly Malaysia's way, with Pearly-Thinaah winning 21-9, 21-18 in the All England quarter-finals in March. 

The result brought a premature end to their attempt to reproduce last year's historic campaign, when they became the first Malaysian women's doubles pair to reach a World Championships final.

A massive letdown! 😖😖😖