Ebola scare near Kinshasa as 200 boat passengers are quarantined

Bunia,UPDATED: Aug 6, 2026 23:02 IST

Congolese health authorities are monitoring nearly 200 passengers who travelled on a boat near Kinshasa after a traveller died with symptoms matching the Ebola virus. Officials said the capital has no confirmed Ebola case, but passengers on the boat have been tested and placed in quarantine while they wait for their results.

Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak since May, described by Dr Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC, as the fastest in history in terms of transmission. Confirmed cases have reached 4,000, including more than 1,800 deaths. The outbreak has also disrupted care in the worst-hit areas, where health workers staged protests over unpaid wages.

Kaseya said the traveller had got off the boat after falling sick in Pimu, in Mongala province, more than 1,000 km from Kinshasa. The boat had been travelling for nearly three weeks along the Congo River. "We decided to do that even if some of them didn't have symptoms because we want to make sure that we don't miss anything," Kaseya said.

Ebola is highly contagious and spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and through contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing. News of the passenger's death caused panic in Kinshasa, which is far from the eastern region hit by the outbreak. This is the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, behind the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak that recorded more than 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths.

Authorities said 60-70% of new cases in the current outbreak are being recorded outside the contacts being monitored, and that the outbreak is spreading at an "alarming" rate, faster than efforts to track it. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said this week that the outbreak is still "spreading at an alarming and unprecedented rate" and that the response, though expanding, "is still not reaching communities quickly enough to break transmission chains."

In Ituri province, which accounts for nearly 90% of Ebola cases in the country, dozens of health workers protested at the governor's office in Bunia on Thursday, demanding payment of wages and bonuses. Several health facilities were left unattended, further disrupting critical care. The workers said they had not been paid since the outbreak was declared in mid-May in one of Congo's most remote and vulnerable areas affected by rebel conflict.

"With this way of managing things, Ebola will not end in this province. We ask the authorities to get involved at all levels so that a solution is found quickly," said protester Edouige Makosi. Officials have previously blamed logistical issues for the delays, but Congolese authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Poor welfare for frontline workers has remained a major concern during the outbreak. Apart from the payment issues, many health workers and facilities have been attacked by rebels and angry mobs. During his visit to Congo on Wednesday, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged authorities to prioritise care and support for responders.

Government data showed that 674 patients are currently in isolation, most of them in Ituri. It also showed that at least 75% of contacts are being traced after exposure to patients. Officials said the bigger concern is that most new cases are coming from sources that are not being monitored and from remote areas where rebel conflict and mining-related movement are limiting access. Overall, the authorities are trying to contain the spread near Kinshasa while the outbreak continues to grow rapidly in the east and care workers in the hardest-hit province protest over unpaid dues.

With PTI Inputs

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