GENEVA: The World Health Organization declared an international health emergency over a rare strain of Ebola that has killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but stopped short of calling the outbreak a pandemic on Sunday.&nbsp;&quot;WHO...is hereby determining that the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), but does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency,&quot; the Geneva-based global health body said in a statement.

Africa

The World Health Organization declares an international health emergency over the rare Bundibugyo Ebola strain spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The outbreak kills dozens, but WHO says it does not yet qualify as a pandemic emergency.

WHO declares international health emergency over rare Ebola strain

ADDIS ABABA: A deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, African health authorities said Friday. Some 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have been reported and &quot;four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases,&quot; the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) said in a statement on social media. &quot;Ebola Virus Disease outbreak confirmed in Ituri Province,&quot; the pan-African health agency said. &quot;Africa CDC is closely monitoring the situation and convening an urgent high-level coordination meeting today with the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and global partners to reinforce cross-border surveillance, preparedness and outbreak response efforts,&quot; it said. First identified in 1976 and thought to have crossed over from bats, Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, causing severe bleeding and organ failure. The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has killed some 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest Ebola outbreak in the DRC, between 2018 and 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people.

Medical workers lead a young girl with suspected Ebola into the unconfirmed Ebola patients ward run by The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) on August 12, 2018 in Beni, northeastern DRC.

African health authorities confirmed a deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with 246 suspected cases and 65 reported deaths so far.

Deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo: Health agency

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday it considered everyone on board a cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak as &quot;high-risk&quot; contacts who should be actively monitored for 42 days. There are nearly 150 people on board the MV Hondius at the centre of the outbreak that has killed three people, which is heading towards the waters off Tenerife. &quot;We classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact,&quot; WHO&#39;s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove told a social media event. Currently, &quot;there&#39;s nobody on board that has any symptoms&quot;, she said, adding though that &quot;active monitoring and follow-up of all the passengers and crew who disembark for a 42-day period&quot; was recommended. Van Kerkove stressed that the risk to the general public and to the people of the Canary Islands, where the Hondius is expected to anchor on Sunday, remained &quot;low&quot;. Three passengers from the ship &ndash; a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman &ndash; have died, out of eight confirmed and suspected cases of the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. The only hantavirus type that can transmit from person to person &ndash; the Andes virus &ndash; has been confirmed among the six cases who have tested positive, fueling international concern. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is heading to Tenerife to help coordinate the evacuation. Van Kerkhove said the United Nations health agency was coordinating with member states &ndash; in particular Spain and the Netherlands, the ship&#39;s operator, and experts around the world on the best way forward. On Saturday, WHO had briefed countries with nationals on board the ship about the plans for &quot;safe and dignified disembarkment&quot;, she said. The idea, she said, was for anyone who might be showing symptoms to &quot;immediately go to a medical evacuation plane and be taken to the Netherlands for care&quot;. Countries were organizing planes to take all those without symptoms back home, with some countries, like the United States and Canada, discussing sharing a plane, Van Kerkhove said. Everyone coming off the ship would meanwhile need to be monitored for 42 days, starting from their last point of exposure with a confirmed or suspected hantavirus case, she said. That means, she said, &quot;the clock has already started ticking&quot;.

Members of the Spanish Civil Guard wait for the arrival of the Cruise MV Hondius at port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 9, 2026. (AFP)

Europe

WHO advises monitoring all passengers after a deadly cruise ship outbreak, ordering 42-day surveillance and follow-up after disembarkation, while saying public risk to the Canary Islands remains low.

Articles tagged with "pandemic"

WHO declares international health emergency over rare Ebola strain

Deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo: Health agency

Everyone on hantavirus-hit ship 'high-risk contact', must be monitored: WHO

WHO declares international health emergency over rare Ebola strain