The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned Saturday that 10 additional African countries are at risk as an Ebola outbreak spreads [1].
This escalation threatens to turn a localized epidemic into a regional crisis, challenging the capacity of healthcare systems across Central and East Africa to contain the virus.
The Africa CDC issued the warning on May 23, 2026, and said that the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving toward neighboring regions [1, 2]. The health body identified Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia as the nations currently facing the highest risk [1, 6].
"We have 10 countries at risk," the head of Africa CDC said [3].
The spread is already manifesting in neighboring states. Uganda has confirmed three new cases of the virus [1]. Meanwhile, the Red Cross reported that three volunteers died after contracting Ebola in the Ituri region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo [1].
Health officials said the risk of cross-border transmission is increasing as the virus moves beyond the initial epicenter [1, 4]. The movement of people across porous borders in Central and East Africa complicates efforts to track and isolate new cases, a primary driver of the current regional alert.
Coordination between the Africa CDC and national health ministries remains the primary defense against further transmission. The agency is calling for heightened surveillance in the 10 identified countries to prevent the establishment of new clusters [1, 2].
“We have 10 countries at risk.”
The expansion of the Ebola risk zone to 10 countries indicates that containment efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been unable to prevent the virus from reaching international borders. Because Ebola requires rigorous contact tracing and specialized isolation facilities, the potential for a multi-country outbreak could overwhelm regional health infrastructure and disrupt trade and travel across the African continent.
