The letter
Bulletin No. 099Situation as of 21 Aug 2026
Summary of the INSP bulletin, with each new release
The bulletin of 21 Aug 2026, published 22 Aug 2026, reports 83 new confirmed cases and 49 deaths. 83 cases is in line with the seven-day average of 87.9 a day. There is 1 new zone affected: Mutwanga (Nord-Kivu); the outbreak now affects 57 zones in 6 provinces.
01The toll
Since the outbreak began, 5,458 confirmed cases and 2,606 deaths: 47.7% of patients have died. 1,182 people have recovered. 15 more than the day before. 798 patients are hospitalised in Ebola treatment centres. Over the past seven days, an average of 87.9 cases and 47.7 deaths a day, against 90.6 cases and 50.9 deaths the week before.
02Where
Ituri accounts for 62 of the 83 new cases. Then Nord-Kivu with 18 and Haut-Uélé with 3. The other 3 provinces report none. 5 zones carry 52 of these 83 cases: Nizi 23, Katwa 11, Bunia 8, Mandima 5 and Mongbwalu 5. 49 of the 57 affected health zones reported at least one new case in the past three weeks; 8 reported none.
03Deaths
Of the 49 deaths reported today, 27 occurred in the community, that is outside a treatment centre, and 22 in a treatment centre. Deaths outside a centre: 17 in Ituri, 9 in Nord-Kivu and 1 in Haut-Uélé. Those in a treatment centre: 17 in Ituri, 4 in Nord-Kivu and 1 in Haut-Uélé. The 17 in Ituri have not yet been assigned to a specific health zone, like 206 deaths before them.
04The response
1,656 reports of possible patients ("alerts") were received; 1,488 were checked and 345 retained as suspected cases, to be tested. Of 517 samples tested in the laboratory, 83 were positive, that is 16.1 %. 84.4 % of the people who had been close to a patient (the "contacts") were seen by follow-up teams, below the 85% threshold the INSP has set itself. Fewer than three contacts in four were seen in the following provinces: Bas-Uélé and Haut-Uélé. Ebola treatment centres are 58.6 % full: 771 patients for 1,315 beds. Around new cases, 21 prevention rings were set up out of 80 expected, that is the disinfection of the home and the follow-up of relatives.
05The difficulties encountered
In Ituri, a response team was chased away with machetes during a disinfection in Rwampara, 14 patients refused hospitalisation in Rwampara, Bunia, Kilo, Damas and Mongbwalu, and 14 patients fled treatment centres, including 10 in Sota for lack of food; 19 patients in Kilo, Sota, Lolwa and Mandima receive no food support, the Nizi, Kilo, Logo, Mandima and Kigonze centres are saturated, 26% of the expected prevention rings were opened, 16 bodies could not be tested, refusals of safe burial are reported in Bambu, Mambasa, Nia-Nia, Fataki and Mandima, 4 ambulances are broken down, and only one strategic control point out of 11 works without interruption. In Nord-Kivu, resistance prevented the sampling of a body in Kalau, in the Beni zone, suspected cases remain isolated outside transit centres, nutritionists are lacking, and 60% of logistics staff have not received their June bonus. In Bas-Uélé, the home of the first confirmed case’s relatives could not be disinfected because of resistance, construction of the Buta treatment centre must be sped up, water is hard to obtain there and no ambulance is available. In Haut-Uélé, six control points are on strike, and all active points lack protective equipment and water; contact follow-up remains weak there, as in Bas-Uélé. Rumours circulate at entry points in Ituri, Tshopo and Haut-Uélé: money-making in the name of Ebola, water contaminated by health workers, a disease that does not exist.