A general view of the new Ebola treatment center, built on the grounds of the Evangelical Medical Center with a capacity of 20 beds, in Bunia, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 31, 2026. The World Health Organization’s director general had earlier announced he was coming to Bunia, capital of Ituri province, to “help” and “listen to” the people facing the worst of the outbreak.The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on May 28. (Photo by GLODY MURHABAZI / AFP)
The main airport in Ituri, the DR Congo province at the epicentre of an Ebola outbreak, reopened on Tuesday after a 10-day closure for safety reasons, the government said.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is battling a major epidemic of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever that is suspected to have killed at least 246 people in the country and neighbouring Uganda, according to the African Union’s health agency, Africa CDC.
On May 23, the authorities suspended all commercial flights to and from the airport in Bunia, the capital of Ituri in the conflict-plagued eastern DRC, allowing only medical and humanitarian planes in.
Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said the authorities needed to put health measures in place to protect travellers.
On Tuesday, the transport ministry said the authorities had assessed how the outbreak was being monitored and concluded “conditions are now in place for a gradual and safe resumption of flights”.
AFP
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