{"id":1396993,"date":"2026-05-25T07:52:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T04:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/ebola-outbreak-in-congo-flights-are-being-canceled-en-masse-and-the-football-team-may-not-be-allowed-to-attend-the-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T07:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T04:52:43","slug":"ebola-outbreak-in-congo-flights-are-being-canceled-en-masse-and-the-football-team-may-not-be-allowed-to-attend-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/ebola-outbreak-in-congo-flights-are-being-canceled-en-masse-and-the-football-team-may-not-be-allowed-to-attend-the-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola outbreak in Congo: flights are being canceled en masse, and the football team may not be allowed to attend the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In the Democratic Republic of Congo, an Ebola outbreak has caused flight cancellations, increased international restrictions and threatened to bar the national soccer team from the World Cup in the United States. The spread of the virus has led to increased security measures by countries and international organizations, and the Congolese health system is facing a shortage of resources.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> This is reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-05-23\/congo-faces-surge-in-ebola-cases-as-key-medical-tools-run-short\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bloomberg<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/48844229\/congo-team-isolate-risk-world-cup-andrew-giuliani\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ESPN<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p> The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has suspended commercial, private and special flights to and from the city of Bunia due to the spread of the Ebola virus. Exceptions can only be made for humanitarian and medical flights with special permission.<\/p>\n<p> According to Congolese authorities, as of May 24, the country recorded:<\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li> 91 confirmed cases of Ebola infection;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> 867 suspected cases;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> 204 probable deaths;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> 1,745 contacts under surveillance.<\/li>\n<p><\/ul>\n<p> However, doctors have been able to trace only a fifth of the contacts, which the Africa CDC called an &#8220;alarming&#8221; figure. The outbreak has spread to at least three provinces in Congo. The virus has also spread outside the country. Uganda has already confirmed five cases of infection linked to the Congo situation.<\/p>\n<p> Thus, on May 24 in Kampala, the health ministers of Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan held a joint meeting with representatives of the Africa CDC and the World Health Organization. The parties stated the risk of further spread of the disease due to open borders, trade routes, humanitarian crisis, and population displacement.<\/p>\n<p> Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said the current outbreak is the second largest after the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;It&#8217;s like you&#8217;re a soldier. You go to war without ammunition. We&#8217;re forced to rely solely on public health measures,&#8221; said Jean Kaseya.<\/p>\n<p> The situation is complicated by the lack of an approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, he said. Kaseya also reported a shortage of personal protective equipment, laboratory equipment and places in specialized treatment centers. In the city of Bunia, some patients are being treated in regular hospital wards.<\/p>\n<p> Amid the outbreak <strong>, US authorities have tightened screening for passengers from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan<\/strong> . Washington has also announced additional funding, medical supplies and the dispatch of special response teams.<\/p>\n<p> Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak has also affected the Congolese national soccer team&#8217;s participation in the World Cup. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House World Cup task force, told ESPN that the team must spend 21 days in isolation in Belgium, where it is currently training.<\/p>\n<p> According to Giuliani, the US has warned FIFA, the Congolese government, and the national football team about the need to adhere to the so-called &#8220;bubble&#8221; before entering the country.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;We made it clear to Congo that they must maintain the integrity of their bubble for 21 days before they can come to Houston on June 11,&#8221; said Andrew Giuliani.<\/p>\n<p> He emphasized that if the isolation conditions are violated, the team risks losing the opportunity to enter the United States.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;We want to make sure that nothing gets into our borders or gets close to them,&#8221; Giuliani added.<\/p>\n<p> The World Health Organization <a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/vooz-oholosyla-mizhnarodnu-nadzvychaynu-sytuatsiiu-cherez-spalakh-eboly-v-afrytsi\/\">(WHO) has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency<\/a> of international concern. The WHO said there is a risk of the disease spreading beyond the region, but it is not yet a pandemic.<\/p>\n<p> Recall that <a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/u-konho-zafiksuvaly-spalakh-virusu-eboly-65-liudey-zahynuly-shche-sotni-pid-pidozroiu-infikuvannia\/\">an outbreak of the Ebola virus has been recorded in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a> , resulting in the death of 65 people. About several hundred more people have been infected or are suspected of being infected.<\/p>\n<p> Also follow <strong>\u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/prm_ua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">X<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/+rtV4dxYu2_cyNjVi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Telegram<\/a> , and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the Democratic Republic of Congo, an Ebola outbreak has caused flight cancellations, increased international restrictions and threatened to bar the national soccer team from the World Cup in the United States. The spread of the virus has led to increased security measures by countries and international organizations, and the Congolese health system is facing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":139213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76870,76871,76872,76875],"class_list":["post-1396993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}