Africa CDC Warns Outbreak 'Rapidly Spreading Beyond Its Epicenter' as North Kivu Cases More Than Double

Africa CDC officials warned Thursday, 10 September 2026, that the outbreak — already the fastest-growing Ebola epidemic on record — is spreading well beyond its original epicenter in Ituri province. Yap Boum, Africa CDC's head of emergency preparedness and response, said new cases in North Kivu 'more than doubled to 381 in the latest three-week period, from 165 in the earlier period,' even as new cases and deaths declined in Ituri. Government figures released the same day put the national toll at 6,843 confirmed cases and 3,310 deaths. Placide Mbala Kingebeni, Africa CDC's director for research, clinical trials and innovation, said vaccine supply remains 'a key challenge' — DRC has received 70,000 Ervebo doses but only a fraction have reached frontline workers so far. Officials linked the acceleration in North Kivu to fighting between government forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which controls the provincial capital Goma and has complicated contact tracing and treatment-center access in two newly affected health zones there.