Ebola Cases Slip Past Checkpoints on Informal Routes

GENEVA, Switzerland — The International Organization for Migration is urging responders to widen Ebola surveillance beyond formal border crossings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after 95 per cent of cases found on transit routes were detected on informal routes that bypass official checkpoints, United Nations officials reported.

Read the UN News report: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/11/1168781

The appeal was reported by UN News on November 10, 2026.

Dr. Andrew Mbala, IOM's Regional Ebola Coordinator, briefed journalists in Geneva on Tuesday, speaking from Nairobi, officials reported.

Seventy-one confirmed Ebola cases have been detected along transit routes in the Congo since the outbreak began almost six months ago, according to IOM.

Informal Routes, Mobility Corridors, And Intercepted Bodies

According to IOM, the cases were picked up at points of entry and control, and 95 per cent of them were on informal routes.

Mbala said responders need to think about the mobility of the population, not only hospitals, treatment centres and isolation wards, according to the report.

IOM maps places where people gather, including markets, bus stations and places of worship, and tracks what it calls the mobility corridor, showing where people are travelling to and from, including outbreak-hit areas, officials reported.

Most people transporting the bodies of Ebola victims also use informal routes, according to IOM.

A total of 258 bodies have been intercepted so far, officials reported.

According to figures from the World Health Organization cited in the report, more than 10,400 confirmed cases and 5,103 deaths had been reported in the Congo as of October 31, 2026.

Fifty-Five Million Screenings, Displacement Sites, And Regional Reach

IOM and its partners have carried out 55 million screenings in the Congo and 11 neighbouring countries since the outbreak began, according to the report.

IOM supports surveillance at displacement sites in the Congo, 50 of them in health zones affected by the outbreak, officials reported.

The agency is helping affected and at-risk countries improve early detection and screening, according to the report.

A Funding Shortfall, A Wider Net, And What Happens Next

IOM needs $110 million for its regional operations through March 2027, officials reported.

The agency is nearly $60 million short of that amount, according to the report.

What happens next is the push to expand surveillance and response beyond formal border crossings to the informal routes where most detected cases have travelled, officials reported.

In a separate development in the same report, peacekeepers with the UN mission in the Congo evacuated three civilians wounded in a shooting in Ituri Province on Sunday and took them to hospital for urgent care, officials reported.

Anyone travelling in affected areas is urged to follow the guidance of national health authorities and UN agencies responding to the outbreak.

Sources

UN News, "Ebola: IOM urges wider surveillance beyond formal routes in DR Congo," November 10, 2026: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/11/1168781