African health authorities have approved a $319mn six-month response plan to contain Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, after suspected cases in the DRC passed 900 and infections were confirmed across the border in Uganda.

The plan, developed by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), covers June-November 2026 and is intended to prevent a wider regional epidemic across Central and East Africa.

The outbreak was confirmed in DRC’s Ituri province in mid-May and involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, according to WHO and US CDC updates. The US CDC said that as of May 25, DRC had reported 906 suspected cases, 105 confirmed cases, 223 suspected deaths and 10 confirmed deaths, while Uganda had reported seven confirmed cases and one confirmed death.

The response plan allocates about $265mn to direct outbreak operations in the DRC and Uganda, with a further $54mn earmarked for preparedness in 10 high-risk African countries.

Funding will support Ebola treatment centres, case management, infection-prevention measures, laboratory testing, surveillance, contact tracing, border screening and community engagement. Authorities are also expected to expand emergency medical stockpiles and strengthen preparedness along high-risk border corridors linking eastern DRC with Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Burundi.

The plan follows warnings that the outbreak could spread faster than response teams can contain it, particularly in eastern DRC, where insecurity, population displacement and distrust of health authorities have complicated past Ebola operations.

DRC has experienced repeated Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first identified in 1976. The 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri killed more than 2,200 people, making it the country’s deadliest Ebola epidemic and the second-largest recorded globally.

“Africa has already overcome major public health challenges, and through unity, coordination and collective action, we will overcome this one as well,” African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said in a statement.

The outbreak has prompted renewed concern over the region’s emergency-health capacity, as Bundibugyo virus disease has no widely approved vaccine and containment depends heavily on rapid detection, isolation, contact tracing and infection control.