The World · Saturday, 8 August 2026
Ebola passes 4,000 cases in DR Congo and WHO calls for a full trial of the only licensed vaccine
The health ministry's latest situation report gives 4,053 Bundibugyo cases and 1,850 deaths since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, across 53 health zones in five provinces, with 87 percent of cases in Ituri. WHO vaccine experts recommended on Friday a full-scale human trial of Ervebo, licensed against the Zaire strain, to test whether it also protects against Bundibugyo, for which no vaccine exists. Only West Africa's 2014 to 2016 epidemic has been larger.