We are missing cases. The disease is still spreading undetected.
A month into the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak, the virus has outpaced the systems designed to stop it — surging past 800 confirmed cases in a single week while thousands of potential exposures remain untraced. The World Health Organization warns that community deaths reported days or weeks after the fact signal a hidden transmission chain far larger than official counts reflect. Across a 500-mile border that geography and kinship render effectively open, Uganda watches its own fragile containment hold, knowing that what happens in Congo will not stay in Congo.
- Confirmed cases jumped by 300 in one week, and WHO officials believe the true toll is significantly higher — the virus is moving faster than the count can follow.
- Roughly 3,000 known contacts remain untraced in Ituri province, each one a potential unseen link in a chain of transmission spreading through families and communities.
- Security forces fired warning shots to stop grieving families from reclaiming the bodies of Ebola victims — a collision between cultural mourning and the biological danger the dead still carry.
- Uganda has reported no new infections in 11 days and credits aggressive screening, but its officials openly acknowledge they cannot fully control a 500-mile border shared with people who are, in every meaningful sense, the same community.
- Health workers and epidemiologists describe cautious optimism about Uganda's response while watching the Congo outbreak with the focused anxiety of people who know the race is nowhere near finished.
One month after the outbreak was declared, Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is still outrunning the response. In a single week, confirmed cases jumped by roughly 300, pushing the total past 800 — and the World Health Organization believes the real number is higher still. When families report deaths at home days or weeks after the fact, it tells health officials something troubling: the virus is spreading through people who don't yet know they've been exposed.
Dr. Marie-Roseline Belizaire, WHO's Incident Manager, spoke from Kampala with unmistakable concern. The outbreak has moved into new geographic areas, and contact tracing — the essential tool for breaking transmission chains — has reached only about half of known contacts. That leaves roughly 3,000 possible exposures unaccounted for, people moving through their communities without knowing what they may be carrying.
In Ituri province, the human cost is visible in ways that go beyond case counts. Security forces have had to fire warning shots to stop crowds from reclaiming the bodies of Ebola victims for traditional burial. Health workers understand the grief behind it, but they also know that a body remains contagious after death. The tension between mourning and containment has become a physical standoff.
Across the border, Uganda has managed a more controlled response — airport screenings, QR code declarations, active monitoring — and has reported no new cases in 11 days. But the border itself, nearly 500 miles long and shaped by shared languages, customs, and family ties, cannot be fully closed by any official decree. As Uganda's National Director of Public Health put it, telling people they cannot cross to visit relatives is like trying to stop the wind. Every case Uganda has confirmed has been imported from Congo, and that reality is unlikely to change until the outbreak on the other side of that border is brought under control.
One month into the outbreak, the numbers tell a story of a virus still outrunning the people trying to stop it. In the span of a single week, confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo jumped by roughly 300, pushing the total past 800. The World Health Organization has issued a stark warning: the virus is still spreading, still moving into new geographic areas, and the organization suspects the real count is far higher than what's being reported.
Dr. Marie-Roseline Belizaire, the WHO's Incident Manager, spoke to CBS News from Kampala, Uganda, where she and other health officials are coordinating the response across Central Africa. She was direct about what the continued deaths being reported by communities in Congo actually mean. When people die of Ebola at home and their families report it days or weeks later, it signals that cases are being missed in real time—that the virus is spreading through networks of people who have no idea they've been exposed. "One month after the outbreak has been declared, I'm still feeling concerned," she said.
In Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, the challenge isn't just medical. Congolese security forces have had to fire warning shots to disperse crowds of people trying to claim the bodies of Ebola victims and take them home for burial. Health workers understand the cultural weight of this—these are their neighbors, their relatives—but they also know that even after death, an Ebola victim's body remains dangerously contagious. The tension between grief and containment has become a physical confrontation.
Contact tracing, the backbone of any outbreak response, is moving slowly. Health workers in Congo have managed to follow up with only about half of the people known to have been in contact with confirmed cases. That leaves roughly 3,000 possible exposures unaccounted for—people who may have the virus and don't know it, moving through their communities, attending gatherings, caring for family members. Each one represents a potential chain of transmission.
Across the border in Uganda, the response has been more controlled. Authorities have implemented screening at airports and major entry points; as soon as journalists arrived, they were required to scan a QR code and declare whether they'd had contact with bats, attended a funeral, or experienced symptoms like fever or vomiting. As of mid-June, Uganda had confirmed 19 cases and two deaths, but no new infections had been reported in the previous 11 days. Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, Uganda's National Director of Public Health, credited the country's preventative measures.
But there's a problem that no checkpoint can fully solve. Uganda and Congo share a border nearly 500 miles long—roughly the length of Florida—and despite being officially closed, people continue to cross it. The border is porous not because of negligence but because of geography and human reality. Kyabayinze explained it plainly: the people on either side speak the same languages, practice the same customs, belong to the same families. When you have unofficial crossing points and deep cultural ties, telling people they cannot visit relatives is like, as he put it, trying to stop the wind from blowing.
"Our problem is how is it being managed across the border with the Congo," Kyabayinze told CBS News. "We know all our cases have been imported from there." He acknowledged that movement across the border was likely minimal under the current restrictions, but he couldn't rule it out entirely. The epidemiologists monitoring the situation say they're cautiously optimistic about Uganda's response so far, but they're watching the Congo outbreak and that long, difficult border with intense focus. The race to contain this virus is far from over.
Notable Quotes
One month after the outbreak has been declared, I'm still feeling concerned.— Dr. Marie-Roseline Belizaire, WHO Incident Manager
Putting a tight ribbon on porous borders is almost impossible—it's like stopping wind from blowing.— Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, Uganda's National Director of Public Health
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the WHO think there are more cases than the numbers show?
Because people are still dying at home, in their communities, and only being reported days or weeks later. That lag means the virus is spreading through people nobody's tracking yet.
So contact tracing is failing?
Not failing exactly—it's just overwhelmed. They've reached about half the people who were exposed. Three thousand contacts are still out there, unaware they might be infected.
And Uganda seems to be doing better?
For now, yes. They've had stricter controls at entry points and no new cases in 11 days. But they're not naive about it.
What's the border problem, really?
It's not that the border is poorly guarded. It's that families live on both sides. You can't seal a border when the people crossing it are visiting their relatives.
So Uganda could get hit harder?
It's possible. All their cases so far came from Congo. If the outbreak there keeps growing, and people keep crossing, Uganda's window of safety could close quickly.
What would change that?
Either the outbreak in Congo gets contained—which means solving the contact tracing problem and getting communities to trust the health response—or the virus reaches Uganda's population centers before they can respond.