BUNIA — The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo officially declared an Ebola outbreak in its eastern region on May 15. As of June 13, official figures reported 782 confirmed Ebola cases and 181 confirmed deaths in eastern Congo.

Ebola cases were initially clustered in Mongbwalu, a remote mining town. Bunia, a city with over 1 million residents, recorded 212 confirmed Ebola cases. In central Bunia, a sick man vomited blood on his motorbike taxi driver and died at the scene. Specialist teams retrieved the man's body and decontaminated the roadside, while the motorbike taxi driver fled the scene and family members gathered.

The Congolese health ministry reported a 56% contact tracing rate across three provinces experiencing active Ebola transmission. Clinique Universelle hospital in Bunia closed its operations after a patient tested positive for Ebola. Health workers at the hospital indicated they had been working without personal protective equipment. Aid organizations airlifted hundreds of metric tons of medicines and personal protective equipment to Ituri Province. Eliezer Kasongo, a community volunteer in Bunia, stated, "We started to see people die in the neighbourhood and we began to understand." He added, "There's fear, people are dying every day." Patient Mazirane, the director of Clinique Universelle hospital, said, "We're not afraid, we're very afraid."

Ituri Province has experienced decades of armed conflict. Armed groups are active in eastern Congo, where roads are largely unpaved and towns are densely populated. More than 85% of the population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo lives on approximately $3 per day, according to the World Bank.