Ebola response in DR Congo loses a key transit centre in a fire at Kigonze camp in Ituri

1 October 2026

A key transit centre for patients needing Ebola treatment burned down in Kigonze camp, Ituri province, eastern DR Congo, on the evening of 29 September 2026, the UN said on 1 October.
Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola response official in the DRC, said: "when we lose a centre, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment and we have to start again".
The camp sheltered some 19,000 people fleeing violence; it now lies abandoned after thousands fled following reports that soldiers had entered searching for weapons.
Ebola has spread across seven provinces since the public health emergency was declared in mid-May; this is the country's 17th outbreak.
Fighting in Ituri has also delayed the transport of laboratory samples and disrupted the transfer of confirmed patients.