Ebola reaches eighth province in Congo as WHO sees cases fall elsewhere

Congo's Ebola outbreak has spread to an eighth province, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, recording two cases and one death in Nord-Ubangi in the country's north. The province borders the Central African Republic, which has not recorded any confirmed cases.

Both patients were men in their 20s living in the Wapinda health zone, which borders Bas-Uele province, where Ebola cases have been reported previously. The new infections extend an outbreak that authorities declared in mid-May and that has now produced at least 9,400 cases and more than 4,500 deaths, making it the deadliest in Congo's history.

The geographic spread is happening even as the picture improves in parts of the country. WHO Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Yakub Janabi said pockets of Ebola are generally going down, but geographically it is spreading out. Ituri province remains the epicenter, accounting for most confirmed cases.

Janabi said one of the biggest challenges has been convincing those who are infected to seek medical assistance. That difficulty matters because the outbreak's widening footprint and the barriers to care could prolong the response and increase the toll.

The virus has crossed borders before. Uganda, a neighbour, recorded cases and has since declared itself free of the disease. Kenya recorded a seventh case on Saturday. The Central African Republic has not recorded any confirmed cases, but the new infections in a province that borders it raise the risk of further cross-border transmission and complicate containment.

What is driving the spread into new provinces despite declining cases in some areas is not established by the available evidence. Nor is how the response is being coordinated across provincial and international borders, or what specific barriers are keeping infected people from seeking care. Those questions remain open as authorities balance containment against community trust.