Health workers interact at the Evangelical Medical Center, in Bunia, eastern Congo, on Friday, July 3, 2026, where Ebola clinical trials are planned to take place.

Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne/AP

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Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne/AP

KINSHASA, Congo — New suspected Ebola cases have been reported in previously unaffected parts of Congo, the government said Thursday, as the death toll in the country’s latest Ebola outbreak reached 600.

According to the Congolese Ministry of Health, suspected cases have been recorded in the provinces of Tshopo and Haut-Uele, indicating the continued spread of the disease beyond the epicenter in Ituri.

A Congolese government report, published late Wednesday, said two new cases were suspected in Kisangani, Tshopo province. The minister did not specify how many cases were suspected in Alto Uele. The total number of confirmed cases nationwide now stands at 1,759.

The report said one of the two suspected cases in Tshopo was linked to the Nia-Nia health zone in Ituri province, where the first cases were reported, while the other case “has no apparent geographical connection to known outbreaks”. Authorities were investigating.

The Africa Center for Disease Control said Thursday that the latest outbreak is the fastest growing on the continent.

Congolese authorities declared a new Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been transmitted for weeks without official detection, according to the World Health Organization. The latest outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

Clinical trials for the treatment began last week after researchers launched a long-awaited study in hopes of combating the virus.

Efforts to contain the virus have also been hampered by a lack of funding, attacks on health facilities and an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak.