DRC Government Says Ebola Outbreak 'Peak Was Reached' in Late August as Case Growth Slows

DRC government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said in remarks reported 14 September 2026 that the outbreak's growth appears to have crested: 'The peak was reached at the beginning of the third week of August. All the indicators show a decrease in the number of cases,' he said, adding that 10 of the (then) 61 health zones had recorded no new cases for at least 21 days. The assessment came even as the outbreak — already DRC's deadliest Ebola epidemic and the fastest-growing on record — continued to widen geographically, having reached a seventh province (Sud-Ubangi, in the west) days earlier, and as Ebola cases were confirmed among schoolchildren in Ituri's capital Bunia following the region's new school-year reopening. Muyaya's comments do not change the outbreak's PHEIC status or the scale of the ongoing response, which per WHO's 2 September Geneva briefing still requires 1,600 additional treatment beds and 5,000 more health workers.