Ebola nurse killed in Congo as UN condemns attack

An Ebola nurse responding to an alert was killed by protesters in Bafwasende, a rural town in Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Saturday, 24 October. A colleague was severely injured in the same attack and remains in hospital, according to UN News.

Health workers answer alerts, check suspected cases, and trace people who may have been exposed. When those workers cannot move safely, suspected cases can go unreported, contacts can go untraced, and treatment can arrive late. The killing threatens that routine work, and the two people directly involved in the attack.

Condemnation and call for investigation

Julien Harneis, the UN Senior Ebola Response Coordinator, strongly condemned the attack and called for a thorough investigation. In a statement, he extended condolences to the nurse's family and colleagues, and urged communities to "protect health workers" and allow them to carry out their work safely.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also expressed condolences and wished the injured health worker a swift and full recovery. "Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety," he wrote on X. "Healthcare must always be protected."

Public accounts of the attack have not named the nurse or the injured colleague, and have not established who carried out the attack or why. Reuters reporting on the incident said protesters killed the nurse, and a local health official said youths in the area had previously attacked another colleague and set his house on fire. Reuters has also previously reported that the rapid spread of health misinformation had put health workers in eastern Congo at risk before the current outbreak spread.

Outbreak spreads across provinces

The attack happened during an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine. More than 9,760 cases and 4,727 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the outbreak was declared on 15 May 2026, according to recent WHO figures.

The outbreak is the deadliest recorded in the country. It was reported in the volatile eastern region and has now reached eight provinces: Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Sud Ubangi, Tshopo and Nord-Ubangi. Bafwasende lies in the north-east of the country, on the border with Ituri province, and provincial officials described Ituri in August as the centre of the outbreak.

Bafwasende's position on the border with Ituri helps explain why alerts there carry wider significance. Cases in Tshopo were brought in from Ituri through a checkpoint at Avakubi inside the Bafwasende area, and a locally caught case was recorded in the same area in early August, according to local reporting on the outbreak's spread in Tshopo. Health teams in the area have therefore been responding to the disease since early August, and an alert there is not an isolated local event.

Uganda confronted a smaller Ebola outbreak that was declared defeated in August, while France, Kenya and Nigeria have reported cases. The regional spread shows why alerts in towns such as Bafwasende matter to the wider response: a suspected case in a remote town can signal transmission that has already crossed a provincial boundary, and a delayed response can leave contacts unmonitored for days.

Nigeria case and continued vigilance

In a separate development covered by the same UN report, Nigeria confirmed its first case last week, a woman who had travelled from Uganda. She and her husband, who is a contact, were medically evacuated to Switzerland on Monday morning, WHO said. Both are Swiss citizens, and the patient is clinically stable, according to the agency.

Dr Mohamed Janabi, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, said the Nigerian medical team had managed the patient through the acute phase of the illness and stabilised her condition. He congratulated the Nigerian Government, health workers, clinicians, emergency responders and others involved in the response, and described the outcome as a "remarkable achievement".

Janabi also warned that vigilance remains critical. Nigeria will continue to monitor 52 contacts, he said, while Switzerland will assume responsibility for the patient's continued care and follow-up of her husband. The evacuation means Nigeria currently has no active Ebola cases, but the monitoring period continues, and formal clearance depends on surveillance over time rather than on the evacuation alone.

For readers following the outbreak, the distinction matters. An evacuation can remove an active case from a country without ending the risk, because contacts still need monitoring and new alerts still need investigation. In Congo, that work now continues after an attack on the staff sent to investigate an alert. Protection for health workers determines whether the next alert gets answered, according to UN officials, who have not reported any update on the injured worker beyond the severe injury described in the UN report, and reporting by Reuters. Earlier coverage of the Congo outbreak is available in the record surge report and the Nigeria airport-link probe.