The letter
Bulletin No. 098Situation as of 20 Aug 2026
Summary of the INSP bulletin, with each new release
The bulletin of 20 Aug 2026, published 21 Aug 2026, reports 85 new confirmed cases and 41 deaths. 85 cases is in line with the seven-day average of 92.6 a day. There is 1 new zone affected: Makiso-Kisangani (Tshopo); the outbreak now affects 56 zones in 6 provinces.
01The toll
Since the outbreak began, 5,375 confirmed cases and 2,557 deaths: 47.6% of patients have died. 1,167 people have recovered. 15 more than the day before. 737 patients are hospitalised in Ebola treatment centres. Over the past seven days, an average of 92.6 cases and 49.0 deaths a day, against 86.7 cases and 46.7 deaths the week before.
02Where
Ituri accounts for 63 of the 85 new cases. Then Nord-Kivu with 17 and Haut-Uélé with 5. The other 3 provinces report none. 5 zones carry 51 of these 85 cases: Nizi 13, Bambu 12, Bunia 10, Rwampara 9 and Katwa 7. 48 of the 56 affected health zones reported at least one new case in the past three weeks; 8 reported none.
03Deaths
Of the 41 deaths reported today, 18 occurred in the community, that is outside a treatment centre, and 23 in a treatment centre. Deaths outside a centre: 10 in Nord-Kivu, 6 in Ituri and 2 in Haut-Uélé. Those in a treatment centre: 19 in Ituri, 2 in Haut-Uélé, 1 in Nord-Kivu and 1 in Tshopo. The 19 in Ituri have not yet been assigned to a specific health zone, like 187 deaths before them.
04The response
1,588 reports of possible patients ("alerts") were received; 1,340 were checked and 301 retained as suspected cases, to be tested. Of 477 samples tested in the laboratory, 85 were positive, that is 17.8 %. 85.5 % of the people who had been close to a patient (the "contacts") were seen by follow-up teams, above the 85% threshold the INSP has set itself. Fewer than three contacts in four were seen in the following provinces: Bas-Uélé. Ebola treatment centres are 60.1 % full: 711 patients for 1,183 beds. Around new cases, 17 prevention rings were set up out of 52 expected, that is the disinfection of the home and the follow-up of relatives.
05The difficulties encountered
In Haut-Uélé, two Red Cross vehicles accompanying a body were vandalised 10 km from Isiro and the volunteers manhandled, an ambulance from Pawa was attacked while transferring a suspected case, a team was threatened in Isiro while investigating an alert, a body was taken from the Isiro treatment centre and displayed in town for a funeral, a family in Boma Mangbetu refuses hospitalisation, medicines are missing at the Isiro centre, and six control points are on strike for lack of pay. In Ituri, the Nizi, Kilo, Logo and Kigonze centres are saturated, 43 patients receive no food support, patients keep fleeing, 17 prevention rings were opened out of 52 expected, 15 bodies could not be tested, refusals of safe burial are reported in Bunia, Nizi, Mongbwalu, Fataki and Damas, three ambulances are broken down, and only one strategic control point out of 11 works without interruption. In Nord-Kivu, suspected cases from Butembo, Masereka, Vuhovi and Kalunguta are isolated outside transit centres, five zones did not report their hygiene data, and rumours circulate: in Kyondo, the body bag “does not open the way to heaven”, in Beni, the measles vaccine is said to be a cure for Ebola. Awareness workers in Nord-Kivu and Tshopo have not been paid for three months. In Tshopo, the centre lacks space, power and safe blood, and 168 motorbikes are missing. In Bas-Uélé, no ambulance, and no medicines pre-positioned for supportive care.