2018-2020 Ebola in DRC

As an Ebola outbreak in the northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) came to a close, new cases were detected in eastern provinces. Ongoing ethnic conflicts and high transnational mobility contributed to the rapid spread of the virus. The government of the DRC officially declared an outbreak in August 2018, which then spread to Uganda in June 2019. The outbreak was declared a PHEIC in July 2019, and the PHEIC was declared over in June 2020. Response measures were able to be implemented rapidly because they were already in use from the previous outbreak; these included heightened surveillance, community engagement, and infection prevention and control. Additionally, WHO and other agencies deployed healthcare personnel and provided funding to affected countries. The WHO declared the outbreak over in June 2020. In total, over 3,000 cases were reported, with over 2,000 resulting in death.