The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has visited the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where health authorities are battling a fast-growing Ebola outbreak that has already spread across multiple provinces and into neighbouring countries.

Tedros arrived in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, one of the hardest-hit areas where he met with officials and community representatives to assess ongoing response efforts and discuss challenges facing containment operations.

He said international partners are supporting the DRC government, but stressed that community involvement remains essential in controlling the spread of the disease. His visit, he added, was aimed at engaging directly with local communities and reviewing gaps in the response system.

Health data shows the outbreak has expanded significantly since it was first declared on May 15, with more than a thousand suspected infections and hundreds of deaths reported across affected regions, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases have also been confirmed in parts of Uganda, prompting neighbouring authorities to tighten border controls and impose quarantine measures on travellers coming from the DRC.

Officials have warned that the real scale of the outbreak may be larger than reported due to limited testing capacity and insecurity in affected areas, which has hampered health workers’ access to remote communities.

Humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, have expressed concern over the speed of transmission in the early phase of the outbreak, noting that response teams are still not fully deployed in some high-risk zones.

The eastern DRC has faced long-standing instability driven by armed conflict, which continues to complicate medical outreach efforts and leaves displaced populations particularly vulnerable to infection.

Despite the challenges, health authorities have reported at least one patient recovery, offering a small sign of progress in the ongoing response.

Ebola, a highly contagious viral disease transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, has caused thousands of deaths across Africa over past decades, with previous outbreaks in the DRC among the most severe recorded globally.