On Jun. 1, 2020,The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced that a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease was occurring in Wangata health zone, Mbandaka, in Équateur province. The announcement came as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was in its final phase, while the country also battled COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak.

Initial information from the Ministry of Health was that six Ebola cases had so far been detected in Wangata, of which four have died and two were alive and were under care. Three of these six cases had been confirmed with laboratory testing. It was likely more people would be identified with the disease as surveillance activities increase.

This was the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 11^th outbreak of Ebola since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976. The city of Mbandaka and its surrounding area were the site of Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 9^th Ebola outbreak, which took place from May to July 2018.

WHO was on the ground in Mbandaka supporting the response to this outbreak, as part of capacity built during the 2018 outbreak. The team supported the collection and testing of samples, and reference to the national laboratory for confirmation. Contact tracing was underway. Work ass ongoing to send additional supplies from North Kivu and from Kinshasa to support the government-led response.

New outbreaks of Ebola were expected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo given the existence of the virus in an animal reservoir in many parts of the country. To date, 3,195 cases had been reported, including 72 deaths.