Health · DRC · Archive60 Beds for 3,700 Cases: DRC Opens Largest Ebola Center Amid CrisisAired August 5, 2026 at 12:14 PM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00The Democratic Republic of Congo is0:01opening its largest ever [music] Ebola0:03treatment facility in the city of Bunia0:05as the country grapples with the fastest0:07growing [music] Ebola outbreak in its0:08history. More than 1,700 people have0:11died since mid-May [music]0:12with over 3,700 confirmed cases. The new0:15center is a 100-bed facility split0:17[music] between 60 beds for confirmed0:18patients and 40 for those suspected of0:20infection. More than 300 health workers0:23will staff [music] it. That is a0:24substantial deployment except when0:26measured against the crisis it0:27confronts. With more than 3,7000:31confirmed cases and counting, those 600:33confirmed case beds [music] meet less0:34than 2% of the documented need. The0:36arithmetic alone describes the gap0:38[music] between what is being built and0:40what is already lost. What makes that0:42gap lethal is the strain. The outbreak0:44is driven by Bundibugyo, [music]0:46a rare variant of the Ebola virus.0:48Unlike the Zaire strain behind previous0:50epidemics, Bundibugyo has no approved0:52vaccines [music] and no approved0:53treatments. Health workers at Bunia will0:55offer supportive care, fluids, oxygen,0:57fever control, and little else. This is1:00already the largest Ebola outbreak on1:02[music] record in the DRC, surpassing1:04even the 2018 to 2020 Eastern epidemic.1:08The velocity of death makes [music] the1:09timing of the Bunia facility critical.1:11If current trends hold, the largest ever1:13Ebola treatment facility [music] in DRC1:15history could be full the day it opens.1:17The world will be watching to see1:18whether Bundibugyo can be stopped1:20without the vaccines and drugs that made1:21the last war winnable.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗Related coverageBackgroundOct 21 09:53 UTCAbuja Ebola patient in isolation as Nigeria traces 44 contactsBackgroundOct 21 08:18 UTCKenya’s Ebola cases reach nine as first quarantined contacts near release