The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could cost African economies up to $3.6 billion and drive an additional 985,000 people into poverty, the UN Development Programme warned on Monday, as the virus spread to previously unaffected provinces. The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain for which no licensed vaccine or treatment exists, has now recorded 1,307 confirmed cases and 377 deaths, making it the third most severe Ebola epidemic in history. The UNDP assessment, viewed from Geneva, marks a shift in framing the crisis from a public health emergency to a developmental shock that risks erasing years of gains in the region.

Health authorities in the DRC are now tracing contacts in Tshopo and Haut-Uele provinces after a pregnant woman’s body was transported from Ituri to Kisangani before testing positive, and two isolated contacts fled to Haut-Uele, which borders South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Uganda has confirmed 20 cases, including two fatalities, and a French doctor who worked in the outbreak zone tested positive after returning home. In Scotland, a patient admitted to a Glasgow hospital is undergoing testing, though Public Health Scotland assesses the risk to the public as low. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the WHO, and Uganda this weekend launched a Joint Continental Incident Management Support Team in Kampala to coordinate cross-border surveillance, laboratory systems, and case management under a unified command structure.

Separately, a cholera outbreak in Sudan’s West Kordofan state has killed 117 people, with 838 suspected cases reported since 20 June, the WHO said on Tuesday. The outbreak compounds a humanitarian crisis driven by conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which has disrupted health services and displaced populations. Forty-six Sudanese, regional, and international organisations called for an immediate, unconditional humanitarian truce, warning that escalating military operations around El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, threaten hospitals, UN facilities, and aid delivery. The World Food Programme said its food stocks for emergency operations in Sudan will be exhausted by September, with only one in five people in need currently receiving assistance.

The economic modelling from UNDP shows that even if the Ebola virus is contained within the DRC and Uganda, the country stands to lose over $1 billion in real GDP and 55,000 jobs, while trade disruptions and border restrictions could contract Africa’s GDP by $2.37 billion. The DRC government has banned mass gatherings in four provinces, including Kinshasa, citing anti-Ebola measures, a move that comes days before an opposition protest planned for 8 July against President Félix Tshisekedi. The UN Human Rights Council is expected to hold an urgent discussion on the situation in El Obeid on Friday. The next operational milestone for the Ebola response is the full deployment of the continental incident management team, while funding gaps persist: the DRC’s national response plan requires $319 million, and the WFP needs $646 million to sustain food aid in Sudan for the next six months.