On Sept. 17, 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared the end of an Ebola outbreak that re-emerged six weeks ago in the country’s North Kivu Province. The announcement came as neighbouring Uganda races to curb an unrelated outbreak declared last week.

With only one case confirmed, the just-ended outbreak was one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s least catastrophic. A previous outbreak – the country’s 14th in which there were four confirmed cases and five deaths – was declared over on 4 July this year.

The Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been caused by the Zaire ebolavirus – one of the six species of the Ebola genus. Uganda is fighting a fast-evolving outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus, with 36 cases (18 confirmed and 18 probable) and 23 deaths reported as of the 25 September.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, improving Ebola outbreak readiness and response is paying off. Only a few days after the outbreak in North Kivu was declared, the health authorities rolled out a vaccination drive using the ring strategy. More than 500 people were vaccinated including 350 contacts, contacts of contacts and frontline workers. Nearly all the 182 people who had come into contact with the initial case were monitored over 21 days and cleared once confirmed as not being at high-risk.

Analyses of samples taken from the confirmed case showed that the outbreak was genetically linked to the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces—the country’s longest and largest. Although the current outbreak in North Kivu has been declared over, health authorities are maintaining surveillance measures and remain ready to respond to any flare-ups.