More health workers strike as Ebola cases in Congo exceed 2,000, including 754 deaths

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The number of confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo has reached 2,011, including 754 deaths, according to government data released overnight in what authorities say is the fastest-growing outbreak on record.

Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region's largest medical center, went on strike on Wednesday and are the latest group to have walked off their job at the epicenter over payment issues. Health professionals and other front line workers barricaded the entrance of the hospital, claiming they have not received any compensation despite working under difficult conditions.

The World Health Organization says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.

The Central African nation has been battling the Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus since May 15. A total of 753 patients remain in isolation or in hospitals, while 366 have so far recovered, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health. Contact tracing remains a challenge, with coverage of those exposed still at 67%.

The outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track despite an expanding response. At least 80% of new cases are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, the WHO said Tuesday.

A key challenge is that health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak’s patient zero, while displacements from armed conflict as well as mining-related movements have made it difficult to trace thousands who have come in contact with infected individuals.

Many of the newly reported deaths are those who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the WHO health emergencies chief, said Tuesday after returning from Bunia in Ituri, the worst-hit province in the outbreak.

The health response is being hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centers, an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and mistrust among local communities.

Dozens of healthcare workers at an Ebola virus treatment center in Rwampara, another hard hit city in the Ituri province, went on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses on Monday. On Tuesday, they agreed to resume work under the condition that the government pays them within 72 hours.

Some have told The Associated Press they have not received any payment since they started work at the onset of the outbreak.

Response efforts have also been challenged by the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, unlike the more common Zaire virus for which there is a vaccine and which was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

Enrollment for a highly anticipated study of two possible Ebola treatments recently started in Ituri.

Workers at an Ebola treatment center go on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses at Rwampara General Hospital, in Ituri, northeastern Congo, Monday, July 13, 2026, (AP Photo/Prosper Heri Ngorora)

Health workers walk at the Evangelical Medical Center, in Bunia, eastern Congo, Friday, July 3, 2026, where Ebola clinical trials are scheduled to take place. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne)

Health workers interact at the Evangelical Medical Center, in Bunia, eastern Congo, Friday, July 3, 2026, where Ebola clinical trials are scheduled to take place. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne)

Health workers stand at the Evangelical Medical Center, in Bunia, eastern Congo, Friday, July 3, 2026, where Ebola clinical trials are scheduled to take place. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne)

Stock indexes were mostly rising in premarket trading on Wall Street Wednesday and oil prices rose modestly after Iran threatened to block Middle East energy exports in retaliation for the U.S. resuming its blockade of Iranian ports.

Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.

Morgan Stanley shares rose 2% in premarket trading after the bank reported revenue of $21.3 billion in the second quarter and profit of $5.6 billion, both records. That follows a slew of strong reports from big U.S. banks on Tuesday, with all of them to some degree crediting their trading desks.

It marks the second straight quarter of robust results from the banks, which have benefited from market volatility since the Iran war began in late February.

Coming later Wednesday is the government's report on wholesale inflation in June.

Stock price gains overall were moderate given worries that the United States and Iran may return to an all-out war. Renewed attacks in the Middle East have raised the risks of further disruptions of transport of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices higher.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the U.S. blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that the blockade was resumed as an interim agreement on ending the war unraveled.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” said the statement by the Iranian side.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 63 cents to $85.36 a barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude gained 46 cents to $79.80 a barrel.

“The U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed last month has proved to be anything but. The two sides are once again exchanging military strikes, and they hold completely different views on the state of affairs in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

“With shipping around the Gulf becoming increasingly fraught with danger, traffic flows are declining once more,” he said.

In early European trading, France's CAC 40 dipped 0.2%, while the German DAX shed 0.8% and Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.2%.

South Korea’s Kospi led gains in Asia, surging 6.2% to 7,284.41 as prices rebounded from a recent sell-off in semiconductor stocks. Shares in computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 8.8%, while those of Samsung Electronics surged 6.3%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% to finish at 68,751.51.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,841.10.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 1.4% to 24,681.10, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,955.58 after the Chinese government reported the economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace in April-June, slowing sharply from 5% in the first quarter of the year.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A man walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A woman walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A man walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right bottom, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, right top, at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) is displayed at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)