Congo Crowd Sets Ebola Hospital Tents Ablaze At Epicenter Of Outbreak

Interesting center for disease control and prevention, congo, ebola, outbreak admin May 23, 2026 0 Comments

Congo Crowd Sets Ebola Hospital Tents Ablaze At Epicenter Of Outbreak

A crowd torched isolation tents at a hospital treating Ebola patients in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday after officials refused to release the body of a young man believed to have died of the virus.

After health workers refused to release the body, friends and family members at Rwampara General Hospital near Bunia in Ituri province allegedly hurled projectiles, the BBC reported. Two isolation tents and a body burned, Reuters reported. Police fired warning shots, and stone-throwing protesters injured a healthcare worker, a source at the hospital told the AFP, BBC reported. The medical charity announced in a Facebook statement that the six patients from the tents are now receiving care at the hospital.

Angry young people set the center on fire after officials withheld the body of a friend who appeared to have died from Ebola, a witness told the Associated Press (AP) by phone. The region has few medical facilities, and ongoing armed conflicts have displaced large numbers of residents, the AP reported. (RELATED: Global Health Officials Caught Off Guard By Major Ebola Outbreak In Africa)

Luc Mambele, vice president of Congolese political party A2RC, told CNN that “Ebola is a lie” is a common belief in remote Ituri communities. Patrick Muyaya, a DRC government spokesperson, denounced the attack and told CNN that locals “did exactly what they shouldn’t do.”

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) put the death toll in DR Congo at 177 with 750 suspected Ebola cases overall, the BBC reported. The Bundibugyo strain has no existing vaccine, and developing one could take up to nine months. WHO has labeled it a “public health emergency of international concern” but stopped short of calling it a pandemic.

During an appearance on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield, who served during the first Trump administration, predicted the outbreak could grow into a major pandemic. “I suspect this is going to become a very significant pandemic, probably going to leak into Tanzania, leak into southern Sudan, maybe leak into Rwanda,” Redfield said, The Hill reported.

Dr. Neil Stone, a consultant in infectious diseases and microbiology at University College London Hospitals, offered a different assessment on X. “No Ebola won’t become a pandemic. Epidemic yes. Pandemic no,” Stone wrote.

All U.S.-bound travelers who have been in DR Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days must now enter through Washington Dulles International Airport for enhanced CDC and Customs and Border Protection screening, according to Newsweek. The U.S. has reportedly committed $23 million to the 2026 outbreak, compared with about $600 million during the 2018–2020 Ebola crisis.