Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya said Africa is “not yet winning” against the Ebola epidemic. According to figures cited by the media, the number of confirmed infections has exceeded 10,000, and deaths are close to 5,000.
Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC, spoke about the situation after a meeting with more than 40 health ministers from African countries. Citing his remarks, the Nigerian outlet Premium Times reports that the data show that “for now, we are not winning.” He cited 10,172 confirmed cases and 4,932 deaths. According to the same source, the ministers agreed to prepare all countries for possible cases, coordinate action across borders, keep borders open and strengthen epidemiological surveillance.
Scale of the epidemic
The epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, and the outbreak was reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 2026. Data attributed to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) cite 10,193 confirmed cases and 4,960 deaths in the DRC as of 28 October. Premium Times, citing the WHO, gives 10,141 cases and 4,928 deaths for the DRC as of 26 October, across eight provinces. The differences stem from different dates and counting methods.
Earlier WHO data show the pace of growth. According to a WHO update (Disease Outbreak News), as of 6 October there were 8,728 confirmed cases, including 4,205 deaths, and the average over the previous seven days was 72 new cases a day. Since then, therefore, about 1.5 thousand additional confirmed infections have been recorded. The epicentre remains in Ituri Province.
Kaseya, quoted by The Sun Nigeria and The Nigeria Lawyer, also spoke about a change in the geographic distribution of the disease and the shifting of the epicentre. He said that in total, more than 10,200 cases and over 5,000 deaths have been confirmed on the continent.
Cases outside the DRC
Kenya has reported nine confirmed cases and two deaths; the infection was brought in from the DRC. Uganda, according to Premium Times, has recorded 20 confirmed cases, two deaths and one probable case. In Nigeria, the first case in more than a decade was confirmed on 20 October: it involved a 42-year-old Swiss woman in whom the Bundibugyo strain was detected. After her evacuation, Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, announced that Nigeria no longer has any confirmed patients. The WHO noted, however, that this does not mean Nigeria has been declared free of Ebola. According to a report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) dated 29 October, 62 contacts of the patient were being monitored.
We wrote more broadly about Kaseya’s warnings of a possible spread of the disease to Europe in an article about the warning that Ebola could reach the United Kingdom.
What it means
For readers in Poland, the risk remains low: the sources cited do not indicate that any cases have been confirmed in Poland. People planning travel to the DRC, Uganda, Kenya or Nigeria should check communications from the WHO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MSZ) and the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS). Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick people, and according to WHO and CDC data, there is no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain.
