GENEVA: The Ebola outbreak is spreading into new areas of Democratic Republic of Congo and is bigger in scale than hitherto detected, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Friday.

Much more needs to be done to contain the virus, the WHO said, with isolation bed capacity far below the anticipated need, based on how it is spreading.

Since the outbreak was declared on May 15, there have been 676 confirmed Ebola cases, including 136 deaths in DRC, according to the latest WHO figures.

There are a further 119 suspected cases, while 32 patients have recovered.

No approved vaccines or treatments exist for the rare Bundibugyo species of the virus responsible for the current outbreak, which is centred on Ituri province, with cases also detected in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. “The outbreak continues to expand both in terms of case numbers but also in terms of geographic spread,” said Olivier le Polain, the WHO’s head of epidemiology .

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2026