This archive report was first published on 18 July 2020.
On July 17, the Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry confirmed 54 cases of Ebola in Mbandaka, a transport hub in Equateur province, including 22 deaths since June 1.
The outbreak is the 11th since Ebola was identified in 1976, and the WHO has identified 56 cases by Thursday.
Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa, said, "It is now surpassing the previous outbreak in this area which was closed off and controlled at a total of 54 cases," referring to a 2018 Ebola outbreak in Equateur in which 33 people died.
The epidemic is spreading from Mbandaka's urban centre to surrounding remote villages in forests along the Congo River, some of which can only be accessed by canoe or all-terrain vehicles.
"There are infections in several villages," a local official, Moraliste Nembetwa, told AFP.
Health authorities have launched a vaccination campaign, as was done in the east where two experimental vaccines were widely deployed and more than 320,000 people received a jab.
"More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated," said Alhassane Toure, a vaccination coordinator.
DR Congo is also struggling with the new coronavirus, with 8,249 cases including 193 fatalities, as well as recurring flare-ups of cholera and malaria.
