The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had reported a total of 344 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 60 deaths, and Uganda a total of 15 confirmed cases, including one death, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday.
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on Wednesday that the outbreak spread rapidly in its early stages, and containment efforts initially lagged behind the spread of the disease.
But under the leadership of the DRC government and with the support of the international community, the response to the outbreak is catching up. Six patients in the DRC had recovered and been discharged from the hospital, and two patients in Uganda had recovered, he said.
Nonetheless, Tedros noted several challenges, which include scaling up laboratory and diagnostic capacity to reduce delays in case confirmation and support faster response decisions, contact tracing in the DRC, travel restrictions that are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response, community mistrust, and the fact that there are currently no licensed vaccines or specific therapeutics for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain.
According to the WHO, currently only about 45 percent of close contacts are being effectively traced, whereas controlling the spread of the virus requires raising this rate to over 90 percent.
Tedros said that preliminary investigations suggest this outbreak may have begun as early as January of this year, but the current priority remains containing it as quickly as possible.
The WHO estimates that at least 115 million U.S. dollars in funding will be required to support the response over the next three months, with about 35 percent of it currently secured.
Tedros said that in the DRC, 344 cases have been confirmed, including 60 deaths, in 24 health zones across three provinces, while the number of suspected cases has been reduced to 116 from over 1,000 last week.
WHO's risk assessment remains unchanged: very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level, he added.
DRC, Uganda report 61 deaths from Ebola outbreak: WHO
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia is fully prepared and willing to negotiate with Ukraine at a U.S. military facility in Anchorage, Alaska, while his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting.
At a meeting with heads of major international news agencies attending the 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said Russia remains prepared to pursue a negotiated settlement based on a framework discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting in Anchorage in August 2025.
He said Russia is ready to accept the compromises discussed at the meeting and expressed hope that the Ukrainian side would also agree to them.
Ukraine has previously rejected the Anchorage framework, as it calls for Ukraine to cede territory.
Meanwhile, Putin said Russian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact and have taken complete control of the Luhansk region, 85 percent of the Donetsk region and 80 percent of the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia's Presidential Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev said at the 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday that despite efforts by forces seeking to prolong the war to disrupt talks between Russia and the U.S., bilateral engagement on Ukraine has made substantive progress.
Dmitriev dismissed reports that Russia-U.S. contacts have stalled, accusing other European nations of spreading disinformation to hinder the peace process.
Dmitriev also said that on Wednesday he had spoken by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and discussed bilateral economic cooperation.
He said the U.S. side had underscored the need to embrace peace rather than engage in constant provocations and confrontations.
The U.S. has been pushing for peace and Ukraine should join the process, Dmitriev noted, adding there were plans for further contacts with Witkoff and Kushner next week.
Later on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published an open letter to Putin, proposing to end the conflict through direct talks between the two leaders.
Relevant parties, including European countries and the U.S., should be part of the peace negotiations, the letter stated.
Ukraine is ready for a complete ceasefire during the talks and proposes an exchange of prisoners of war on the principle of "all for all," Zelensky also said in the letter.
Russia ready to talk with Ukraine at U.S. military base: Putin
Russia ready to talk with Ukraine at U.S. military base: Putin
