Arsonists Reportedly Set Fire To Ebola Treatment Center In Congo (Live Updates)

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Topline

Arsonists attacked an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, one of the towns at the center of an ongoing and deadly disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after locals were stopped from retrieving the body of a local man who'd died of Ebola, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Flames and smoke rise from an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026.

Timeline

THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2026 Witnesses tell AP that objects inside the treatment center and the body of a person inside were set on fire by locals who became angry when they weren't allowed to retrieve the body of a friend who'd died (contact with the body of an Ebola victim is an easy way for the disease to spread, and authorities are handling burials whenever possible in the region).

The World Health Organization reports there are more than 600 suspected cases and 148 suspected deaths from the ongoing Ebola outbreak, and those numbers are expected to rise.

Reports emerge that a person has died of Ebola near the city of Bukavu, more than 300 miles from the outbreak’s epicenter, highlighting officials' fears that the outbreak is more widespread than official figures show.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2026 An Air France flight headed for Detroit is diverted to Montreal after border patrol agents in France mistakenly allowed a passenger to board the flight in violation of new travel rules barring U.S. entry to non-citizens who have been in Uganda, DCR or South Sudan in the last 21 days.

Dr. Peter Stafford, an American missionary who contracted Ebola while working in Congo, is receiving treatment to a specialist hospital in Germany, NBC News reports, and another American doctor who was exposed is being flown to Bulovka Hospital in Prague.

The World Health Organization reports there are more than 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths from the Ebola outbreak, mostly in Congo.

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2026DRC health officials announce that 131 deaths and 513 suspected cases are linked to the outbreak in the country, and a spokesperson tells BBC News that cases are now being reported over a larger area.

Speaking at the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he is “deeply concerned by the scale and the speed of the epidemic,” noting cases have been reported in major urban areas including Uganda’s capital Kampala and the city of Goma in the DRC.

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2026 President Donald Trump says he is “concerned” about Ebola when asked about the outbreak at the White House.

Satish Pillai at the CDC says an American doctor who was exposed to the outbreak while working in the DCR has tested positive for the disease and will be medically evacuated from the Congo to Germany for care, adding that six other Americans are in the process of being evacuated from the area for treatment or monitoring.

The CDC says the ongoing risk to the American public is “low.”

The CDC and the Department of Homeland Security announce new travel restrictions related to the Ebola outbreak, including enhanced public health screening for people arriving from affected areas and entry restrictions for non-U.S. passport holders who have been in Uganda, the Congo or South Sudan in the last 21 days.

Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, tells BBC News more than 100 people have died from the Ebola outbreak and there are at least 395 suspected cases.

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2026 Citing unnamed sources, Stat News reports several Americans had "high-risk exposures" to Ebola while working in the Congo and says one has developed symptoms consistent with the disease.

The CDC says it is working to extract a “small number of Americans who are directly affected by this outbreak” from the Congo.

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2026 The World Health Organization declares the outbreak an "extraordinary event” that could pose a public health risk to multiple nations and possibly require a coordinated international response in the near future.

The WHO announces at least 80 people have died, including one patient who died in Uganda after traveling to the neighboring country from the Congo.

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2026Laboratory tests confirm the outbreak is of the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine, and the same strain that carried a 32% mortality rate during a 2007 outbreak.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirms an Ebola outbreak in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reporting the disease has sickened 246 people and killed 65, and says officials are worried about further infections due to frequent travel in the area, few resources to combat spread and difficulties with contract tracing in the remote region.

Medical staff carry an Ebola patient to a treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026.

When Did The Outbreak Begin?

Health officials believe the first case was weeks before the WHO stepped in and declared a public health emergency. According to the Associated Press, the first suspected case involved a health care worker and was reported in late April, but the exact date is unclear. DRC’s health minister says the person died on April 24, but the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it was on April 27. Initial testing was more focused on the more common Ebola virus strain and the first few samples tested negative. But two weeks later, authorities were able to establish that the outbreak was being caused by the rarer Bundibugyo variant of the virus.

Key Background

The ongoing Ebola outbreak marks the 17th in the DRC over the last 50 years but comes only months after another, declared over in December, killed 45 people. Most previous outbreaks were of Ebola-Zaire strains of the virus, for which public health officials have approved vaccines, but the Bundibugyo strain spreading now has no approved vaccine or treatment method. The only way to help those infected is to provide supportive care, health officials say, like giving medicine to support blood pressure, reduce vomiting and diarrhea, and manage fever and pain. A 2007 outbreak of Bundibugyo had a 32% fatality rate, similar to untreated cases of smallpox and typhoid fever.

Surprising Fact

The last time Ebola was in the United States was in 2014, during a global outbreak that saw 11 cases in the country. Of those, nine people contracted the virus in West Africa and were later transported to the U.S. for specialized medical treatment. Two people died. The other two cases were identified in nurses who contracted Ebola in the United States after treating a patient in Dallas. They both survived.

Tangent

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, established by the WHO and World Bank, on Monday warned the world isn't ready for another pandemic despite what was learned during the COVID outbreak six years ago. In a new report, the board said global health research, prevention and preparedness has not kept pace with an increasing frequency and intensity of infectious disease epidemics and warned any pandemic will "strike a world more divided, more indebted and less able to protect its people than it was a decade ago.