"The World Health Organization declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to be a "public health emergency of international concern" on Sunday.

However WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in a statement it "does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency" and advised countries against closing their borders.

The outbreak was first reported in the DRC's eastern Ituri province on Friday and there are already hundreds of suspected cases, including one that crossed the border into Uganda. The latest strain of the virus has no vaccine either, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC.

Ebola is transmitted through blood and other bodily fluid as well as contaminated surfaces. Symptoms include fever, body pain, weakness, vomiting "and, in some cases, bleeding," according to the WHO."

Sydney Lupkin reports for NPR May 17, 2026. [2]