The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has become the world’s second largest on record, with confirmed cases reaching 3,532 as of Friday, July 31st, 2026, according to the DRC Ministry of Communication and Media.

This current epidemic has surpassed the country’s previous largest outbreak from August 2018 to June 2020, which recorded roughly 3,470 cases. More than 3,500 people have been infected overall, with 807 patients still in isolation or hospital and 626 having recovered.

Africa’s top public health agency, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), reported that less than three months since the outbreak began, the disease has killed five times as many people as previous outbreaks had by the same stage. The Africa CDC also stated in June that containing the outbreak would require $1.4 billion, three times its earlier estimate.

The only larger Ebola outbreak was the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa, which recorded 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The outbreak has also led to strikes by health workers at Ebola treatment centers in the DRC, complicating efforts to control the virus. Officials have warned the world to "pay much more attention" to this rapidly spreading epidemic.

Sources