{"id":31647,"date":"2026-05-21T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=31647"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:00:11","slug":"who-ebola-risk-high-in-drc-uganda-but-no-pandemic-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/who-ebola-risk-high-in-drc-uganda-but-no-pandemic-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO: Ebola Risk High in DRC, Uganda but No Pandemic Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda does not represent a global pandemic emergency, though the risk remains high at both national and regional levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus gave the update Wednesday during the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, where health ministers and diplomats are meeting. He noted that beyond several dozen confirmed infections, there are nearly 600 suspected cases of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus and 139 suspected deaths in eastern DRC. Uganda has also reported two confirmed cases in Kampala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are currently no vaccines or therapeutics for this rare strain, last detected in 2007. WHO teams are working with community leaders in Ituri province to prevent wider transmission, despite decades of violence and insecurity that have weakened local health systems. \u201cWe never left Goma during all the insecurity happening, so we will continue staying to provide security to the community we serve,\u201d said Dr. Marie Roseline Belizaire, WHO\u2019s Regional Emergency Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO officials stressed the challenges of detecting outbreaks in remote or insecure areas, where samples must often travel long distances for confirmation. Dr. Mohamed Janabi, WHO\u2019s Regional Director for Africa, explained that surveillance depends on reliable community reporting and functioning health facilities. Samples confirming the Bundibugyo strain were transported over 1,700 kilometers to Kinshasa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Investigations suggest the outbreak may have begun months ago. \u201cOur priority is really to cut the transmission chain,\u201d said Dr. Anais Legand, WHO Technical Officer for Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, WHO\u2019s Emergency Committee declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern but not a pandemic. Panel chair Prof. Lucille Blumberg emphasized that Ebola spreads through direct contact with blood or body fluids, not casual or airborne transmission, meaning travel restrictions are not recommended under international health regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blumberg warned that humanitarian crises, insecurity, and highly mobile populations complicate containment efforts. She called for urgent resources, intensified surveillance, and research into countermeasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outbreak has also disrupted global trade. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway carrying a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and a third of fertilizer shipments, remains restricted by Iran\u2019s blockade imposed during the conflict. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation warned this could trigger a severe food price crisis and systemic agrifood shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Markets showed cautious optimism Thursday, with crude prices edging up 0.5 percent after a sharp drop the previous day. Analysts cautioned that investors remain wary after weeks of failed negotiations and uncertainty over the outbreak\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda does not represent a global pandemic emergency, though the risk remains high at both national and regional levels. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus gave the update Wednesday during the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, where health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":31648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3699,2,2096,776,4,478,8,458],"tags":[17107,1659,16907,17108,16871,10287,17105,17106],"class_list":["post-31647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-business","category-economics","category-educational","category-featured","category-financial","category-jobs","category-legal","tag-bundibugyo-virus","tag-dr-congo","tag-ebola-outbreak","tag-global-food-crisis","tag-public-health-emergency","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-uganda-ebola-cases","tag-who-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/180524154744-ebola-2014-1.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31650,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31647\/revisions\/31650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}