Fear as 20 Ebola Patients escape from treatment camp in DR Congo as medical doctors’ base erupts in flames

Dr. Richard Lokudi, the director of the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, said the act caused panic among members of the staff also resulted in the panic escape of 18 suspected cases into the community.

May 24, 2026 - 12:24

Fear as 20 Ebola Patients escape from treatment camp in DR Congo as medical doctors’ base erupts in flames

Nearly 20 people infected with the new Ebola Virus have escaped from their treatment base in the Democratic Republic of Congo and are currently at large.

The victims left the medical station after a tent used for treatment of the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo went up in flames, scaring doctors and patients alike.

This is the second time within a single week that some unknown people set the Ebola treatment camp on fire.

So far at least 18 people suspected of infection have fled from the camp heading to unknown destinations, fueling the disease spread even further.

According to reports from DRC some unidentified people arrived at the clinic in Mongbwalu, a town at the centre of the outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, and set the camp ablaze.

They reportedly burnt down a tent which was being used by the Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian group attending the suspected and confirmed Ebola cases.

Dr. Richard Lokudi, the director of the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, said the act caused panic among members of the staff also resulted in the panic escape of 18 suspected cases into the community.

A few days earlier also, another treatment centre in the town of Rwampara was burned down after family members were prohibited from retrieving the body of a local man.

The bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from families and friends.

So far, authorities in the northeastern part of DR Congo have banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo up from a previous categorization of “high,’ though the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reveals that 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in the D.R.C. but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger.”

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, which spread undetected for weeks in the country’s Ituri province following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative.

There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, though more are expected as surveillance expands.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said a response to the outbreak must include building trust with communities.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said three of its volunteers had died from the outbreak in Mongbwalu.

The agency said it believed the three health-care workers contracted the virus while carrying out dead body management activities on March 27 as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola.