On a single day last week, more than 80 confirmed Ebola cases were recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — the highest daily count since the current outbreak began two months ago. Speaking in Geneva after visiting Bunia, the epicentre in eastern DRC's Ituri Province, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, described the situation as the third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, with close to 2,000 confirmed cases and more than 700 deaths across five provinces as of 11 July. The strain involved — Bundibugyo — has now reached record infection levels for its species. What makes the outbreak particularly difficult to contain is not the scale alone but the invisibility of its spread.

Eighty per cent of new cases are arising outside known contact lists, meaning health authorities cannot trace how most patients were exposed. Many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility. The WHO's own modelling suggests the real number of infections may be two to four times higher than official figures. Dr Ihekweazu compared the outbreak to a fire: burning intensely at its core in Ituri while simultaneously throwing sparks outward.

The virus has recently reached two additional provinces — Haut-Uele and Tshopo — extending well beyond the original outbreak zone. The WHO has outlined a dual strategy in response: suppress transmission at the heart of the outbreak in Ituri while mapping travel routes to anticipate where new clusters may ignite. International support, the agency emphasised, remains indispensable. Early detection infrastructure is under severe strain, and community trust — often fragile in conflict-affected eastern DRC — is essential to ensuring that symptomatic individuals seek care before they die unseen.