DRC Ebola Toll Climbs to 7,475 Cases, 3,605 Deaths as Contact Tracing Rebounds to 87.6%

The ECDC's Ebola outbreak tracker, published Friday, 18 September 2026, with data through 16 September, put DRC's confirmed toll at 7,475 cases and 3,605 deaths — a rise of 71 cases and 32 deaths since the prior (13 September) report. Ituri remains the epicenter with 5,792 cases and 2,642 deaths across 28 of 36 health zones, followed by North Kivu with 1,350 cases and 828 deaths across 16 of 34 zones (a crude provincial CFR of roughly 61.3%, well above the national rate). Haut-Uélé (292 cases/118 deaths), Tshopo (30/11), Bas-Uélé (7/4), South Kivu (3/1) and Sud-Ubangi (1/1) round out the seven affected provinces, with the outbreak still spanning 62 of 167 mapped health zones. National contact-tracing coverage rebounded to 87.6% of identified contacts, up sharply from 78.6% on 13 September. The update recorded 905 patients currently hospitalized in isolation and 1,798 cumulative recoveries, for a crude national case fatality rate of roughly 48.2%. Including Uganda's closed outbreak (20 cases, 2 deaths) and France's single recovered case, the combined case count across all three countries stands at 7,496.