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Evening edition · Monday, 26 October 2026

HEALTH · DESK NOTE

Ebola: 88 cases, 38 deaths, and 958 patients for 1,583 beds

The 24 October bulletin puts the Bundibugyo outbreak at 9,964 confirmed cases. The daily average is rising again. Nord-Kivu is over capacity.

Health & Care Dr. Benjamin Koch / The Desk 2 min read2 sources

The Congolese bulletin for 24 October reports 88 new confirmed cases and 38 deaths, taking the outbreak to 9,964 confirmed cases and 4,841 deaths, a case fatality rate of 48.6%1. Over the past seven days the average was 72.7 cases and 40.0 deaths a day, against 68.1 and 32.1 the week before1.

Where. Ituri reported 44 of the new cases, Nord-Kivu 39 and Haut-Uélé 51. No new health zone has been affected since 16 October; the outbreak stays in 66 zones across eight provinces1. WHO’s latest update also lists imported cases in Kenya and Nigeria2.

The machinery. Treatment centres hold 958 patients for 1,583 beds, but Nord-Kivu has 495 patients for 410 beds1. Teams saw 87.1% of contacts; 9,415 people have been vaccinated since 26 August1. Of 38 deaths, 26 happened outside a treatment centre1, which is where the next infections usually start.

The good line, small but real: 2,670 people have recovered1.

What to watch

  • Whether the seven-day average, 72.7 cases a day, keeps rising1.
  • Safe burials: 22 of 78 could not be carried out in Ituri, where families opposed them1.
Desk comment

An outbreak is beaten by bookkeeping: every contact traced, every bed counted, every burial done safely. The numbers below are the work.

Sources

  1. DRC Ebola, 24 October 2026: 9,964 confirmed cases (SitRep 163) — ebola-tracker.org (from the INSP situation report), bulletin of 24 Oct, published 25 Oct 2026.
  2. Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus, DRC, Kenya and Nigeria — WHO Disease Outbreak News, 23 Oct 2026.

Every figure in this piece traces to a source above or to the desk’s own arithmetic on those sources, marked as such. Quotations are short and attributed. Spot an error? Write to the desk; corrections are logged on the method page.

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