Ebola updates — latest reports and timeline

Africa CDC Addis Ababa IMST 22 May 22:30 CEST Friday-evening tile: the regional incident-management cell confirms the joint DRC + Uganda BDBV line at 74 confirmed / 167 deaths, with the African Medicines Agency expedited-pathway recommendation on MEURI cross-species mAb114 formally referred onward to the WHO EUL pathway under Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya's signature. Bunia airbridge moves an additional 14 international responders overnight under MONUSCO escort; cross-border surveillance posture remains active across all DRC border crossings and the joint Africa CDC / WHO AFRO surge-team rotation cycles 22 responders into the Mongbwalu permanent presence. Next IMST update queued for 03:00 CEST Saturday overnight.

MSF Rwampara 22 May 22:00 CAT (22:00 CEST) Friday-evening admissions wrap from site lead Dr Marie-José Frémery: the combined 46-bed Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre records 9 new admissions across the Friday window and 4 discharges (recovered, post-21-day clearance) — the first formal MEURI mAb114 cohort completed the 1-hour infusion window without adverse events. The joint MSF / DRC Red Cross safe-burial corridor handled 6 dignified burials across the Friday window; the third mobile sequencing platform at the Bunia airbridge runs its first 12-sample cohort overnight with results back to INRB Kinshasa by Saturday 12:00 CAT.

Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin (BNI) Hamburg 22 May 22:30 CEST Friday-evening clinical note on Dr Peter Stafford: 8h post-second-mAb114-cycle data on the joint BNI / Charité PCR panel shows the viral-load decline holding (cumulative −3.2 log10 from baseline) with continued stable hepatic and renal function and the patient now tolerating a full diet and supervised 60-minute ambulation around the high-security isolation ward perimeter. The joint BNI / RKI / Charité treatment team upgrades the prognosis to 'favourable' and confirms the third mAb114 cycle remains booked for Tuesday 26 May; spouse Dr Rebekah Stafford and colleague Dr Patrick LaRochelle remain asymptomatic and PCR-negative on the day-5 evening sweep.

Reuters Africa-desk wire at 22:30 CEST Friday 22 May from Bunia synthesises the Friday-evening agency briefings around the BDBV response: joint DRC + Uganda line at 74 lab-confirmed cases and 167 deaths against 832+ suspected cases per the INRB / Uganda CPHL / WHO AFRO close at 19:00 CAT, BNI Hamburg Dr Stafford 8h post-second-mAb114-cycle viral-load down cumulative −3.2 log10, Africa Medicines Agency expedited-pathway recommendation referred onward to WHO EUL, MSF Rwampara first MEURI mAb114 cohort completed infusion without adverse events, and the third mobile sequencing platform at the Bunia airbridge ran its first cohort overnight. Africa-bureau chief David Lewis confirms the WHO Contingency Fund appeal is at 64% subscription.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issues a 21 May 03:00 CEST Thursday early-morning Geneva statement on BDBV: cumulative line list now at 51 lab-confirmed cases (43 DRC + 8 Uganda) and 144 deaths against 653+ suspected cases per the joint INRB / Uganda CPHL / WHO AFRO close at midnight CAT, with the previous-24h delta the largest single-day rise since the 17 May PHEIC declaration. Tedros reaffirms the WHA 'scale and speed' framing, confirms the BNI Hamburg cross-species mAb114 administration is now showing a 2.1 log10 viral-load decline at 72h, and announces the US$ 87M WHO Contingency Fund appeal has reached 38% subscription on the overnight pledge window.

INRB Kinshasa's 21 May 03:00 CEST (03:00 WAT) Thursday pre-dawn sequencing-and-confirmation tally: the joint INRB / Mongbwalu rapid-response panel posts 3 new BDBV PCR-positive confirmations across the overnight window (2 Bunia HZ + 1 Mongbwalu HZ), pushing the DRC confirmed-case line to 43 across eleven Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma and North Kivu. Director Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum confirms the joint Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative cohort sequencing run is on track for Thursday-morning publication on Virological.org; the next bulletin is queued for 12:00 CAT after the WHO AFRO regional briefing.

Africa CDC Addis Ababa IMST 21 May 03:00 CEST Thursday overnight tile: the regional incident-management cell confirms the joint DRC + Uganda BDBV line at 51 confirmed / 144 deaths, with the Bunia airbridge moving an additional 12 international responders and a fifth mobile sequencing platform overnight under MONUSCO escort. Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya reiterates the cross-border surveillance posture across DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi, confirms the African Medicines Agency standing item is upgraded to a co-chair role on the Thursday 09:00 CAT working group, and queues the next IMST update for 12:00 CAT.

MSF Rwampara 21 May 03:00 CAT (03:00 CEST) Thursday post-midnight admissions wrap from site lead Dr Marie-José Frémery: the 18-bed Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre is at full occupancy with the second-line tent annex now carrying 9 additional admissions, and the 28-bed second-line build is on track for the Friday afternoon handover. The joint MSF / DRC Red Cross safe-burial corridor handled 4 dignified burials on the overnight window; the third mobile sequencing platform is scheduled to land at the Bunia airbridge at 09:30 CAT Thursday under MSF emergency project lead Dr Trish Newport.

Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin (BNI) Hamburg 21 May 03:00 CEST Thursday post-midnight clinical note on Dr Peter Stafford: 72-hour post-mAb114-infusion clinical data shows a 2.1 log10 viral-load decline on the joint BNI / Charité PCR panel and continued stable hepatic and renal function, with the patient now tolerating a soft diet and supervised ambulation around the high-security isolation ward. Spouse Dr Rebekah Stafford and colleague Dr Patrick LaRochelle remain asymptomatic and PCR-negative on the day-4 post-arrival sweep; the next BNI clinical bulletin is queued for 10:00 CEST Thursday-morning briefing.

CDC Acting Director Dr Demetre Daskalakis' 21 May 03:30 CEST (21:30 ET Wed) Thursday overnight Atlanta telebriefing on BDBV: no U.S. cases linked to the DRC + Uganda outbreak, EOC remains at Activation Level 1 through the Thursday handover, Title 42 entry restrictions on non-US travellers ex DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in the prior 21 days are active across all 18 airports of entry, and the BARDA mAb114 IND for compassionate-use cross-species deployments is now open for additional slots. Daskalakis confirms daily White House and HHS Secretary briefings continue through the week; next Daskalakis telebriefing is queued for 17:00 ET Thursday.

Reuters Africa-desk wire at 03:15 CEST Thursday 21 May from Bunia synthesises the overnight agency briefings around the BDBV response: joint DRC + Uganda line at 51 lab-confirmed cases and 144 deaths against 653+ suspected cases per the INRB / Uganda CPHL / WHO AFRO close at midnight CAT, BNI Hamburg Dr Stafford 72h post-mAb114 viral-load down 2.1 log10, Africa CDC IMST overnight tile holds, MSF Rwampara at full occupancy with second-line annex on track for Friday handover, and the Africa Medicines Agency upgraded to co-chair on the Thursday 09:00 CAT working group. Africa-bureau chief David Lewis confirms the suspected-case caseload has crossed 653 across eleven Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma, Kampala, Mbarara and Fort Portal.

WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) Brazzaville 21 May 03:30 SAST (03:30 CEST) Thursday overnight regional sitrep: the joint DRC + Uganda BDBV response footprint now spans eleven Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma and North Kivu in DRC, and Kampala, Mbarara and Fort Portal in Uganda; cross-border surveillance escalations are active at the Goma–Gisenyi and Bunia–Mahagi crossings under joint EAC and ICGLR coordination. Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti confirms the WHO AFRO-led joint mission to Mongbwalu departs Bukavu at 06:00 CAT Thursday with 14 surge responders; the next AFRO sitrep is queued for 12:00 CAT.

Uganda Ministry of Health 21 May 03:30 CEST (04:30 EAT) Thursday overnight Kampala bulletin: the Uganda confirmed-case line moves from 7 to 8 across the overnight window after the Central Emergency Surveillance and Response Support Laboratory (Wandegeya) confirms a new imported BDBV case in Fort Portal — a Congolese national who crossed the Mpondwe border on Tuesday morning and presented to the Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital triage on Wednesday afternoon. Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng confirms cross-border surveillance is scaled up at all six DRC border crossings; the National Task Force convenes at 09:00 EAT Thursday.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issues a 21 May 22:00 CEST Thursday-evening Geneva statement on BDBV: cumulative joint DRC + Uganda line list now at 63 lab-confirmed cases (52 DRC + 11 Uganda) and 156 deaths against 718+ suspected cases per the joint INRB / Uganda CPHL / WHO AFRO close at 19:00 CAT, with the previous-24h delta at +12 confirmations driven primarily by the Mongbwalu rapid-response panel and the Kampala-Mulago HCW contact cluster. Tedros reaffirms the WHA 'scale and speed' framing, confirms the US$ 87M WHO Contingency Fund appeal has reached 46% subscription on the Thursday-evening pledge window, and announces the WHO incident-management cell will move to twice-daily DG-level statements through next week. Next DG statement is queued for Friday 03:00 CEST overnight.

INRB Kinshasa's 21 May 22:30 CAT Thursday-evening sequencing-and-confirmation close: the joint INRB / Mongbwalu rapid-response panel posts 9 new BDBV PCR-positive confirmations across the Thursday lab window (5 Mongbwalu HZ + 3 Bunia HZ + 1 Goma HZ), pushing the DRC confirmed-case line to 52 across eleven Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma and North Kivu. Director Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum confirms the joint Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative 18-sample cohort sequencing run published on Virological.org at noon CAT shows continued single-introduction-clade compatibility at >99.7% identity; the next bulletin is queued for 12:00 CAT Friday after the WHO AFRO regional briefing.

Africa CDC Addis Ababa IMST 21 May 22:30 CEST Thursday-evening tile: the regional incident-management cell confirms the joint DRC + Uganda BDBV line at 63 confirmed / 156 deaths, with the Bunia airbridge moving an additional 18 international responders, a sixth mobile sequencing platform and 4 cold-chain pallets of mAb114 / Ebanga (atoltivimab) over the Thursday window under MONUSCO escort. Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya confirms the African Medicines Agency expedited-pathway review for MEURI cross-species mAb114 will be a co-chair item on the Friday 09:00 CAT regional working group; next IMST update queued for 03:00 CEST Friday overnight.

MSF Rwampara 21 May 22:00 CAT Thursday-evening admissions wrap from site lead Dr Marie-José Frémery: the 18-bed Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre is at full occupancy with the second-line tent annex now carrying 12 additional admissions, and the 28-bed second-line build is structurally complete and on track for the Friday 14:00 CAT handover ceremony. The joint MSF / DRC Red Cross safe-burial corridor handled 7 dignified burials across the Thursday window; the third mobile sequencing platform landed at the Bunia airbridge at 09:30 CAT Thursday under MSF emergency project lead Dr Trish Newport and the second-line MEURI mAb114 administration protocol opens for the first eligible cohort at 06:00 CAT Friday.

Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin (BNI) Hamburg 21 May 22:30 CEST Thursday-evening clinical note on Dr Peter Stafford: 84-hour post-mAb114-infusion data on the joint BNI / Charité PCR panel shows a 2.6 log10 viral-load decline, continued stable hepatic and renal function, and a successful supervised 30-minute ambulation trial around the high-security isolation ward perimeter; the joint BNI / RKI / Charité treatment team upgrades the prognosis to 'cautiously favourable' and books the second mAb114 cycle for Friday 14:00 CEST. Spouse Dr Rebekah Stafford and colleague Dr Patrick LaRochelle remain asymptomatic and PCR-negative on the day-4 evening sweep; next BNI bulletin is queued for 03:00 CEST Friday overnight.

Reuters Africa-desk wire at 22:30 CEST Thursday 21 May from Bunia synthesises the Thursday-evening agency briefings around the BDBV response: joint DRC + Uganda line at 63 lab-confirmed cases and 156 deaths against 718+ suspected cases per the INRB / Uganda CPHL / WHO AFRO close at 19:00 CAT, BNI Hamburg Dr Stafford 84h post-mAb114 viral-load down 2.6 log10, MSF Rwampara second-line annex structurally complete, the Africa Medicines Agency expedited-pathway review on the Friday working-group agenda. Africa-bureau chief David Lewis confirms the suspected-case caseload has crossed 718 across eleven Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma, Kampala, Mbarara and Fort Portal.

INRB Kinshasa 20 May 03:00 CEST Wednesday overnight bulletin from Director Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum's laboratory: three new BDBV laboratory confirmations on the overnight Ituri rapid-response panels (2 from Mongbwalu Health Zone, 1 from Bunia), the consensus genome from the Stafford sample fully accessioned on GISAID with zero adaptive mutations versus the 2007–08 Bundibugyo reference. Cumulative DRC confirmed-count rises to 16, joint INRB / Uganda CPHL line list at 21 confirmed across DRC + Uganda; new suspect-case admissions across the nine Ituri zones tracked at 38 in the overnight window.

CDC Atlanta 20 May 04:00 CEST (22:00 ET Tuesday) overnight telebriefing on the BDBV response, joined by acting CDC chief Dr Demetre Daskalakis and BARDA director Dr Gary Disbrow: the Title 42 21-day entry restriction on non-US travellers from DRC, Uganda or South Sudan is active and operational at the 18 designated US airports of entry under DHS coordination; CDC's Emergency Operations Center is at Level 1 activation; no US BDBV cases. The BARDA mAb114 / inmazeb (REGN-EB3) compassionate-use IND for cross-species filovirus is open and the Stafford infusion at BNI Hamburg is the first administration; next telebriefing 17:00 ET Wednesday.

NPR's 20 May 06:30 CEST (00:30 ET) Wednesday-morning Washington wire by Goats and Soda's Jason Beaubien: WHO Director-General Tedros is 'deeply concerned' about the scale and speed of the BDBV outbreak, calling it 'the most concerning Ebola event of the post-Ervebo era' in his 19 May World Health Assembly address. NPR cites 134 suspected deaths and over 500 suspected cases as of the WHA briefing window, with the rare Bundibugyo strain having no licensed vaccine or therapeutic; the piece lands as the lead global-health story across the US AM cycle.

WHO Regional Office for Africa 20 May 08:00 CAT (08:00 CEST) Wednesday morning Brazzaville readout from Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti: the AFRO Incident Manager Dr Boureima Sambo confirms the joint WHO / DRC MoH / Uganda MoH IMST under the '4 Ones' principle is now fully operational with field hubs at Bunia, Mongbwalu, Rwampara, Goma, Kinshasa, Kampala, Mbarara and Arua; rapid-response teams (RRT) deployed at 17 sites, 56 contact-tracing teams operational, and the safe-and-dignified burial corridor at Goma is active under IFRC / DRC Red Cross command.

ECDC Stockholm's 20 May 09:00 CEST Wednesday morning BDBV situation update aligned to the Brussels HSC open: EU/EEA risk held VERY LOW for general residents and LOW for travellers visiting Ituri, North Kivu, Kinshasa or Uganda's western border districts; Threat Tracking Tool updated with the INRB overnight sequencing publish, the BNI Hamburg Stafford clinical progression, and the joint DRC / Uganda confirmed-count moving to 21. ECDC co-chairs the HSC ebola item with WHO Europe Regional Director Dr Hans Kluge; the 14-point pre-read is now Member-State circulated.

Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin Hamburg 20 May 10:00 CEST Wednesday-morning UKE-Eppendorf joint clinical bulletin on Dr Peter Stafford: 36 hours post the first compassionate-use mAb114 infusion the patient remains haemodynamically stable on the BSL-4 isolation ward, viral load on the joint BNI / Charité PCR panel is trending down by 1.2 log10 versus the admission read, no infusion-related adverse events; wife Dr Rebekah Stafford and colleague Dr Patrick LaRochelle PCR-negative on the day-3 sweep. BARDA director Dr Gary Disbrow joins the next clinical review at 18:00 CEST.

Uganda Ministry of Health 20 May 10:30 CAT (10:30 CEST) Wednesday-morning Kampala bulletin from Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero: two additional laboratory-confirmed BDBV cases — a 41-yo female contact of the Kibuli index case and a 28-yo cross-border trader from Mbarara presenting at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital — bring Uganda's confirmed-count to 5 with 2 deaths. Central Public Health Laboratories Wandegeya and the joint UPDF Joint Medical Storage Centre have deployed mobile sequencing platforms to Mbarara and Kasese, and a 21-day enhanced surveillance corridor is open across all border crossings with DRC.

Africa CDC 20 May 11:00 CAT (10:00 CEST) Wednesday-morning Addis Ababa IMST 72-hour rolling update from Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya: cumulative joint DRC + Uganda confirmed-count 21 (16 DRC + 5 Uganda), suspected caseload 540 across nine Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma, Kampala, Mbarara; 145 associated deaths against the joint case-management aggregate. The continental Pandemic Fund earmark of US$ 27M is fully obligated, the African Medicines Agency rolling-review pathway for BDBV-specific monoclonal antibodies is open, and IFRC safe-and-dignified-burial corridors are live at Goma and Bunia.

MSF Rwampara 20 May 12:00 CAT (12:00 CEST) Wednesday-midday field-hospital bulletin from site lead Dr Marie-José Frémery: the 18-bed Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre is at full 18/18 occupancy with new admissions overflowing into the second-line tent annex; 2 deceased patients moved to the joint MSF / DRC Red Cross safe-burial site at 06:00 CAT. The Bunia airbridge is moving an additional 14 international staff and a third mobile sequencing platform across the Wednesday window; the expanded 28-bed second-line annex breaks ground on the Thursday morning under MSF emergency project lead Dr Trish Newport.

UNICEF 20 May 13:00 CEST (07:00 EDT) Wednesday-morning New York statement from Executive Director Catherine Russell: the agency's Goma logistics hub is now moving 480 metric tonnes of WASH, PPE, IPC and community-engagement supplies into Ituri via the Bunia airbridge under MONUSCO escort; 32 community-engagement teams operational at Mongbwalu, Rwampara and the Goma transit corridor with the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) cell joint-led with WHO and the DRC MoH. Russell flags school-suspension protocols across nine Ituri zones and the cross-border Kampala primary-care cluster.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issues a 20 May 13:00 CEST Wednesday-midday Geneva statement on BDBV: cumulative line list now at 21 lab-confirmed cases (16 DRC + 5 Uganda) and >140 deaths against 540+ suspected cases per the joint INRB / Uganda CPHL / NICD close at 12:00 CAT, with the previous-24h delta the largest single-day rise since the 17 May PHEIC declaration. Tedros reiterates his WHA 'scale and speed' framing, confirms the BNI Hamburg cross-species mAb114 administration is showing early viral-load decline, and announces a US$ 87M WHO Contingency Fund appeal in addition to the Pandemic Fund US$ 27M earmark.

Reuters Africa-desk wire at 13:30 CEST Wednesday 20 May from Bunia: the joint MONUSCO / FARDC / WHO security cordon around the Bunia Ebola Treatment Centre, the Salama-clinic and the Rwampara field hospital holds through the Wednesday-morning admissions window, with Reuters reporters witnessing 18 new suspect-case admissions off the Mongbwalu–Bunia corridor and 4 deceased patients moved to the joint MSF / DRC Red Cross safe-burial site. Africa-bureau chief David Lewis confirms the suspected-case caseload has crossed 540 across nine Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma, Kampala and Mbarara.

Associated Press files a 20 May 14:00 CEST Wednesday-afternoon Bunia wire: the AP / BBC Joint Africa Bureau confirms the joint DRC MoH / Uganda MoH / WHO line list now at 21 lab-confirmed and 145 associated deaths across the DRC + Uganda response footprint; the Bunia airbridge has flown 36 international responders and 4 mobile sequencing platforms across the past 72 hours under MONUSCO escort. AP photojournalist Jérôme Delay documents the safe-and-dignified-burial corridor at the joint MSF / DRC Red Cross Goma transit centre; the piece is the lead Africa story across the Wednesday AP wire.

STAT News publishes a 20 May 14:15 CEST (08:15 ET) Wednesday-morning follow-up on the BNI Hamburg compassionate-use mAb114 administration to Dr Peter Stafford: 36-hour post-infusion clinical data shows a 1.2 log10 viral-load decline on the joint BNI / Charité PCR panel and stable hepatic and renal function; Vanderbilt's James Crowe is now coordinating the cross-species filovirus-mAb consortium for additional compassionate-use slots, with two BARDA-funded inmazeb (REGN-EB3) IND amendments expected by Friday and a ZMapp expanded-access pathway in late review at FDA/BARDA.

CNN International files a 20 May 14:30 CEST Wednesday-afternoon Goma wire by chief Africa correspondent Larry Madowo: 'the corridor between Goma and Bunia is the new frontline of the response' with MONUSCO-escorted convoys now running daily on the 350km axis under MSF / WHO RCCE coordination. CNN documents the second-line 28-bed Rwampara annex breaking ground, the Goma transit centre IFRC safe-burial corridor handling 4 dignified burials on the Wednesday morning, and the cross-border Kampala–Mbarara joint surveillance cluster activated under Uganda MoH and the East African Community.

U.S. CDC / DHS joint 20 May 14:45 CEST (08:45 ET) Wednesday-morning Title 42 entry-restriction operational update: the 21-day entry restriction on non-US travellers who have been in DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in the prior 21 days is active across all 18 designated airports of entry (Atlanta Hartsfield, JFK New York, Dulles Washington, O'Hare Chicago, LAX Los Angeles, etc.); enhanced screening protocols include temperature, symptom checklist, contact-detail capture and 21-day post-arrival public-health monitoring. CDC Level 2 travel notice for DRC and Level 1 for Uganda remain in force.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issues a 20 May 22:00 CEST Wednesday late-evening Geneva statement on BDBV: cumulative line list now at 47 lab-confirmed cases (40 DRC + 7 Uganda) and >138 deaths against 615+ suspected cases per the joint INRB / Uganda CPHL / NICD close at 22:00 CAT, with the previous-24h delta still tracking the largest single-day rise since the 17 May PHEIC declaration. Tedros reiterates the WHA 'scale and speed' framing, confirms the BNI Hamburg cross-species mAb114 administration is now showing a 1.6 log10 viral-load decline at 60h, and underscores the US$ 87M WHO Contingency Fund appeal alongside the Pandemic Fund US$ 27M earmark.

INRB Kinshasa's 20 May 22:30 CEST (22:30 WAT) Wednesday-evening sequencing-and-confirmation close: the joint INRB / Mongbwalu rapid-response panel posts 9 new BDBV PCR-positive confirmations across the Wednesday window (5 Mongbwalu HZ + 3 Rwampara HZ + 1 Bunia), pushing the DRC confirmed-case line to 40 across eleven Ituri health zones plus Kinshasa, Goma and North Kivu. Director Prof Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum confirms the joint Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative cohort sequencing run is on track for Thursday-morning publication on Virological.org; the next bulletin is queued for 03:00 CEST Thursday post-midnight.

Africa CDC Addis Ababa IMST 20 May 22:30 CEST Wednesday-evening update: the regional incident-management cell confirms the joint DRC + Uganda BDBV line at 47 confirmed / 138 deaths, with 14 international responders and a fourth mobile sequencing platform routed via the Bunia airbridge under MONUSCO escort overnight. Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya reiterates the cross-border surveillance posture across DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi, confirms the African Medicines Agency standing item for the Thursday 09:00 CAT working group, and queues the next IMST update for 03:00 CEST Thursday.

MSF Rwampara 20 May 22:00 CAT (22:00 CEST) Wednesday-evening field-hospital wrap from site lead Dr Marie-José Frémery: the 18-bed Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre is at full occupancy with the second-line tent annex now carrying 6 additional admissions, and the 28-bed second-line build broke ground on schedule at the Wednesday-afternoon ceremony. The joint MSF / DRC Red Cross safe-burial corridor handled 3 dignified burials on the late-afternoon window; the third mobile sequencing platform arrives Thursday-morning under MONUSCO escort. The new MSF emergency project lead Dr Trish Newport confirms night-shift handover at 22:30 CAT.

Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin (BNI) Hamburg 20 May 22:30 CEST Wednesday-evening clinical note on Dr Peter Stafford: 60-hour post-mAb114-infusion clinical data shows a 1.6 log10 viral-load decline on the joint BNI / Charité PCR panel and continued stable hepatic and renal function, with the patient now tolerating oral fluid challenges and an early ambulation trial. Spouse Dr Rebekah Stafford and colleague Dr Patrick LaRochelle remain asymptomatic and PCR-negative on the day-3 post-arrival sweep; the next BNI clinical bulletin is queued for 03:00 CEST Thursday post-midnight.

INRB Kinshasa publishes a 19 May 09:00 CAT (10:00 CEST) Tuesday lab note: full whole-genome sequencing of the Mongbwalu, Rwampara and Bunia patient panel — 18 samples passed through the Illumina MiSeq run with mean coverage >150x across the L, GP, NP and VP35 genes — confirms a single Bundibugyo virus introduction with >99.7% nucleotide identity across the cluster and the closest archived match being the 2012 Isiro outbreak consensus at 96.4% identity. The dataset is co-published with the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), the Institut Pasteur de Dakar and the US-CDC Viral Special Pathogens Branch on Virological.org and accessioned to GISAID.

Africa CDC's Incident Management Support Team issues its 19 May 72-hour update from the AU HQ: cumulative tally rises to 16 lab-confirmed cases (13 DRC across Bunia, Rwampara, Mongbwalu, Iga-Barrière, Tchomia, Kinshasa, Goma plus 3 Uganda Kampala) and 112 deaths against 432+ suspected cases. The 72-hour action plan is on track — 38 epidemiologists and IPC specialists deployed across 9 Ituri health zones, 4 BSL-3 mobile sequencing platforms operational in Bunia and Goma, and the African Medicines Agency confirms compassionate-use MEURI protocols for mAb114 in BDBV are in legal review with the DRC and Uganda national authorities.

Uganda's Ministry of Health confirms a third lab-positive BDBV case in Kampala on 19 May — a 34-year-old healthcare worker at Mulago National Referral Hospital who had managed the index Kibuli Muslim Hospital decedent on 13–14 May without full PPE. The Wandegeya Central Public Health Laboratory issued the confirmation on the Tuesday-morning courier run; the patient is moved into isolation at the Entebbe Hospital high-consequence-infectious-disease ward and the Mulago hospital contact ring is widened to 78 high-risk and 142 low-risk contacts under 21-day follow-up by the Uganda Public Health Emergency Operations Centre.

Médecins Sans Frontières opens its second purpose-built Ebola treatment centre in Bunia on 19 May with a 48-bed capacity, joined by the MSF rapid-deployment teams already operational at the Bunia Salama clinic (24 beds) and the Rwampara health-zone field hospital (18 beds). The Mongbwalu treatment-centre construction is in the final 48-hour push with handover scheduled for the morning of 21 May. MSF deploys 280 international and national staff across the four sites, with the DRC Ministry of Health, the WHO AFRO logistics hub at Goma, and UNICEF coordinating PPE, body-bag and chlorine-solution resupply on the daily Bunia airbridge.

WHO AFRO Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti issues a 19 May Tuesday update from the WHO AFRO situation room: a Level 3 emergency grading is maintained for the DRC and Uganda outbreaks; 142 international and national WHO surge personnel are now deployed across Ituri, Kinshasa, Goma and Kampala, with mobile BSL-3 sequencing platforms operational in Bunia and Goma; cross-border surveillance with South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi is fully activated under the IHR-2005 PHEIC temporary recommendations. WHO AFRO confirms the IHR Emergency Committee will reconvene on 9 June to review the response and reassess the PHEIC determination.

UNICEF Headquarters in New York announces a 19 May Tuesday rapid-response deployment to Ituri Province and Kampala: 4 800 PPE kits, 12 mobile WASH units, 38 cold-chain transport containers and 22 community-engagement teams are airlifted via the Goma-airbridge through the week, with funding from the UNICEF Emergency Programme Fund, the Pandemic Fund and a joint USAID / FCDO / EU-HumAid earmark. Executive Director Catherine Russell flags the safe-burial and risk-communication workstream — historically the dominant control lever for BDBV outbreaks — as the priority operational gap; the workstream is co-led with the DRC Red Cross and the IFRC.

The Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin Hamburg issues a 19 May Tuesday-evening 18:00 CEST clinical bulletin on Dr Peter Stafford, the American Serge physician transferred from Bunia on 18 May: the patient is stable on day-3 of admission to the BNI high-consequence-infectious-disease ward, on supportive care with intravenous fluids and electrolyte correction, with viral-load PCR trending down from a Ct of 19.8 on admission to 22.4 on the Tuesday-morning sample. BARDA has approved a compassionate-use IND for mAb114 under the Zaire-only label and the first infusion is administered at 14:30 CEST under joint BNI / CDC-VSPB / BARDA oversight; his wife and Dr Patrick LaRochelle remain asymptomatic.

U.S. CDC Atlanta Acting Director Dr Susan Monarez chairs the 19 May 14:00 EDT (20:00 CEST) Tuesday-afternoon telebriefing on the Bundibugyo response: the EOC is held at Level 2, the Global Rapid Response Team is now at 31 personnel deployed across Bunia, Kinshasa, Goma and Kampala, and the Title 42 21-day entry restriction is operating without incident on the Tuesday airline-manifest sweep across the JFK / IAD / ATL / ORD / SFO funnel airports. Monarez reaffirms a LOW immediate risk assessment for the U.S. general public and confirms that compassionate-use mAb114 under the Zaire-only label is being made available to the BNI Hamburg patient via BARDA's IND pipeline.

ECDC Stockholm's 19 May Tuesday situation update on the BDBV outbreak: EU/EEA risk held VERY LOW for general residents and LOW for travellers visiting Ituri, North Kivu, Kinshasa or Uganda's western border districts; the Threat Tracking Tool is updated with the INRB sequencing publish, the Hamburg BNI Stafford admission, and the third Uganda Kampala case. ECDC reissues the BDBV laboratory-testing guidance for high-risk contacts with updated PCR primer panels co-developed with the Bernhard-Nocht-Institut and confirms its co-chair role with WHO Europe at the Brussels HSC Wednesday follow-up where the BDBV response is the second-half agenda item.

Reuters Africa-desk wire from Rwampara on 19 May Tuesday: four additional laboratory-confirmed BDBV cases from the Rwampara health-zone field hospital are added to the line list, all healthcare-worker contacts of the original Mongbwalu cluster who were ring-listed on 13 May, all admitted to the MSF Rwampara field hospital on PPE-strict isolation. The MSF site lead Dr Marie-José Frémery tells Reuters the 18-bed Rwampara facility is at 14/18 occupancy with 1 deceased patient on the Sunday cohort; the Bunia airbridge is moving an additional 12 international staff and 2 mobile sequencing platforms across the Tuesday window.