WHO reports updated toll as Ebola epidemic continues across eastern DRC
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached 8,665, with 4,178 confirmed deaths, the World Health Organization’s director-general said in a briefing on 7 October. The update described an outbreak whose direction varies by location: transmission is slowing in some areas but continuing to grow in others.
New hotspots have appeared, including in areas close to the border with South Sudan. The briefing did not give a location-by-location breakdown of the latest figures or specify the date to which the totals were compiled. The totals are therefore best understood as the figures reported by WHO at the briefing, rather than a complete account of the situation in every affected area.
Response progress and continuing gaps
WHO said contact tracing had improved significantly since the outbreak began. Around 2,000 alerts are now reported each day, while community engagement activities have reached about five million people. The organisation described these as advances made over many months by communities and partners working under the government’s leadership.
But the briefing also pointed to persistent weaknesses. Contact tracing is still not at the level WHO considers necessary, and the majority of deaths continue to occur in communities rather than treatment centres. That distinction matters for the response: identifying people who may have been exposed and supporting access to care outside treatment facilities remain central tasks, even as monitoring systems improve.
The outbreak is unfolding in an area affected by a prolonged humanitarian crisis. WHO said the combination of that wider emergency and new hotspots, including near South Sudan, continues to complicate efforts to control transmission. Its remarks did not attribute the appearance of those hotspots to a particular cause, and the figures alone do not establish how quickly the epidemic will change in any one location.
Trials continue as authorities monitor a case linked to DRC
Clinical trials of therapeutics are progressing, with more than 600 people enrolled, according to the briefing. A vaccine trial is expected to start later in October. WHO said work was under way to ensure access to the products if they prove effective in trials. The remarks did not report trial results or establish that any product is effective.
The update also noted Kenya’s report of a confirmed Ebola case in a Kenyan citizen who had fallen ill in the DRC, received care at several facilities there and travelled to Nairobi via Kampala. The person was isolated after arriving in Nairobi, WHO said, and later died.
The case was presented as a cross-border public-health response, not evidence in itself of further transmission in Kenya. WHO commended Kenya for reporting it under the International Health Regulations and said it had discussed the country’s preparedness measures with its health cabinet secretary.
WHO advised governments against blanket travel or trade restrictions, saying screening, contact tracing and other measures are more effective. The briefing offered no broader risk assessment for travellers or neighbouring countries. Its central message was that the epidemic remains uneven: surveillance and response capacity have advanced, while community deaths, insufficient tracing and the humanitarian conditions in affected areas continue to present serious challenges.
