Ebola Spreads to 60 Zones as Vaccine's Match Questioned

The two newly affected zones are Biena and Manguredjipa, both in North Kivu province⁠2⁠4⁠11. Their addition brought the total to 60 affected health zones, according to the government tally reported by the Associated Press and PBS⁠2⁠4. Srpske Novine, citing the same government figures, also reported 60 health zones and 2,786 deaths as vaccination was beginning⁠11. The geography matters because North Kivu sits alongside Ituri and other eastern provinces where movement is constant, health access is uneven, and containment lines are hard to hold.

The scale is difficult to picture until it is mapped. The Irish Times reported the affected area now covers an area bigger than France, with frontline conditions described as brutal⁠8. The Washington Post reported the outbreak threatens to become the worst in history, with the response hampered by severe lack of funding and pervasive misinformation⁠6. Those two observations explain much of what follows: a pathogen moving faster than the money, the staff, and the public trust needed to stop it.

The central medical problem is a mismatch. Congo has begun using Ervebo, the only licensed Ebola vaccine, but that vaccine is approved exclusively for the Zaire strain, while this outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain⁠3⁠5. Al Jazeera, in its account of the vaccination start, explicitly noted that the vaccine has not been proven effective against the Bundibugyo strain⁠3. Science Nigeria reported that the Zaire vaccine was being deployed against the Bundibugyo strain under compassionate use among healthcare and frontline workers⁠5. Clinical trials are underway to find a licensed vaccine for the Bundibugyo variant⁠9.

Compassionate use is the regulatory language for acting without waiting for certainty. Congo Health Minister Roger Kamba administered an Ebola vaccine to a health care worker in Kisangani on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, according to an AP photo caption from the launch⁠2. Prof. Placide Mbala, associate professor at the University of Kinshasa and head of its epidemiology and global health division, announced the compassionate-use start, in Science Nigeria's account of his remarks⁠5. The choice of Kisangani and the focus on health workers reflect a familiar logic in Ebola response: protect the people most likely to face the virus first, even while efficacy against the circulating strain remains unproven.

Those late-August figures did not hold for long. By Aug. 31, authorities reported more than 6,000 confirmed Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths⁠9. By Sept. 2, government figures showed the outbreak had killed more than 3,000 people⁠10. The direction is consistent across the reports: upward, and quickly. Al Jazeera's tally of 2,786 deaths out of 5,795 confirmed cases since May⁠3 and Srpske Novine's tally of 60 health zones and 2,786 deaths⁠11 describe essentially the same moment, with a one-case difference in the published case count that reflects how fast official tallies move during a growing epidemic.

What is not yet known is whether the tool now being injected will blunt that curve. Ervebo's use under compassionate use among healthcare and frontline workers⁠5 buys possible protection for essential staff, but it does not answer the scientific question. Trials aimed at a licensed Bundibugyo vaccine are underway⁠9, and their outcome will determine whether Congo and its partners have a matched vaccine or must continue improvising with one designed for a different virus.