In a follow-up on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is announcing activation of its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Thursday, June 13, 2019, to support the inter-agency response to the current Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

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As part of the Administration’s whole-of-government effort, CDC subject matter experts are working with the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) on the ground in the DRC and the American Embassy in Kinshasa to support the Congolese and international response. The CDC’s EOC staff will further enhance this effort.

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CDC’s activation of the EOC at Level 3, the lowest level of activation, allows the agency to provide increased operational support for the response to meet the outbreak’s evolving challenges. CDC subject matter experts will continue to lead the CDC response with enhanced support from other CDC and EOC staff.

We are activating the Emergency Operations Center at CDC headquarters to provide enhanced operational support to our expanded Ebola response team deployed in DRC,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D. “Through CDC’s command center we are consolidating our public health expertise and logistics planning for a longer term, sustained effort to bring this complex epidemic to an end.”

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CDC has deployed staff with expertise in epidemiology, case management, infection control and prevention, laboratory science, border health, risk communication, community engagement, information technology, emergency management, and logistics to help with the response. Since September 2018, CDC has also been assisting the USAID-activated DART in the DRC that includes disaster and health experts from USAID and CDC. As of June 11, a total of 187 CDC staff have completed 278 deployments to the DRC, Uganda, and other neighboring countries, and WHO headquarters in Geneva.

The DRC outbreak is the second largest outbreak of Ebola ever recorded and the largest outbreak in DRC’s history.


Since the beginning of the epidemic, the cumulative number of cases is 2,084, including 1,990 confirmed and 94 probable. In total, there were 1,405 deaths (1,311 confirmed and 94 probable).

On Wednesday, June 12, 2019, the Congolese and Ugandan health authorities held a meeting in Kasese, about 140 kilometers from Beni, to discuss mechanisms for cross-border collaboration. The Ugandan Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, led the Ugandan delegation while the Congolese side was led by Dr. Gaston Tshapenda, coordinator of Beni.