Kinshasa, May 18th, 2026 (CPA).- No case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) has been confirmed in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the director of the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB), during an interview on Monday on an international radio station. “As for the cases that had come from Bunia, one involved a man who had travelled to the funeral of his father, who had died in Bunia. Then, when he has returned, as people began talking about this outbreak, he has come forward of his own accord to the INRB in Kinshasa to be tested. But the test was negative. For the time being, he is being kept under observation,” has declared Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe.
In turn, the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), through the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (Cousp), has informed the public that no confirmed case of Ebola virus disease has been recorded in Kinshasa to date. “Contrary to information circulating on social media and certain communication channels, no official declaration has been made regarding the presence of confirmed cases of Ebola in the city-province of Kinshasa,” has noted the INSP in a statement received by CPA. Regarding the management of the epidemic in a rebel-controlled area, Dr Muyembe has stated that on the ground, there are always ways to ensure that work can be carried out under the best possible conditions.
“I believe that the minister will give instructions to use the local staff. Instead of bringing in staff from Kinshasa, which would make logistics very complicated, it might be better to use the local staff to gain the trust of the population,” has said this virologist. Professor Muyembe has moreover stated that, for the moment, no one has precise figures on the 17th Ebola outbreak. “Frankly, at the moment, no one can give a figure. No one has the figures. We cannot say how many cases there are, how many contacts, or how many have died from Ebola. They are currently working on it. Now, we are going to compile a linear list of all suspected cases and trace whether there are any links between them,” he has said, maintaining that the strain declared in Ituri is not new and is not the deadliest.
He has, to this end, called on the international organisations to take a step back, calm down and wait for the initial investigations to reveal exactly when the disease has begun, how many cases there are and who the contacts are. It is at that point, Professor Muyembe has explained, that we will then begin to discuss the scale of the epidemic. It should be reminded that the Ebola virus outbreak has been declared by the Minister in charge of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare on May 15th, prior to his visit to the affected area.