Fire destroys an Ebola transit centre in DR Congo's Ituri province, setting back the response

1 October 2026

A transit centre for people needing Ebola treatment, in the Kigonze camp in Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was destroyed by fire on the evening of 29 September 2026.
Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola response official in the country, said that when a centre is lost, capacity and investment are lost and the work has to start again, and above all people do not get the care they need.
The outbreak has recorded more than 8,000 confirmed infections including 4,000 deaths across seven provinces since the emergency was declared in mid-May 2026.
Ituri remains the epicentre of the outbreak, and Ituri's own Mongala health region has reported 346 confirmed cases and 149 deaths since the first infection was detected on 18 May.
The Kigonze camp had sheltered some 19,000 people fleeing violence in the east of the country and now lies abandoned, thousands having fled in recent days.