DR Congo Ebola death toll reaches 181 after record daily jump
The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has climbed to 782 confirmed cases and 181 deaths after a record single-day increase of 72 new cases and 32 deaths reported on June 15. Almost all infections are concentrated in Ituri province, but the virus has reached North Kivu and South Kivu and crossed the border into Uganda.
The trajectory reflects a containment effort being pulled apart by conditions on the ground rather than by the biology of the virus. Contact tracing — the core tool for breaking transmission chains — now covers only about 56% of contacts, far below the 95% target, as armed conflict, patients fleeing care, and artisanal mining camps create hotspots responders cannot reach. Doctors Without Borders reports a $21.5 million funding gap, and the Africa CDC says it is still expanding testing and surveillance. With a case-fatality rate near 23% and surveillance thinning, the outbreak is more likely to keep widening than to be brought under control in the near term.