France has confirmed its first Ebola case linked to the current outbreak after a doctor tested positive for the deadly virus.

Health officials said the medic had returned from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – which has been the epicentre of the current outbreak – before the positive test.

The patient, who is in mainland France, is said to be in a stable condition but has been isolated to prevent a spread of the virus – caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain – that has killed close to 300 people since May.

Officials maintain that the risk to the general European population is low, however contact tracing efforts are underway as they scramble to identify anyone who may have been exposed through contact with the doctor.

The outbreak in the DRC was declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organisation on May 17. Since then, this is the second time a patient has been treated for the virus in Europe, after an American doctor who contracted Ebola in the DRC was flown to Berlin for treatment in May.

The spread has been largely restricted to the DRC and neighbouring Uganda, with official figures showing there have been more than 1,000 cases and more than 260 deaths recorded.

However Oxfam warned last week the true scale of the outbreak could be far greater than these numbers suggest amid fears the virus is spreading ‘undetected’. 

While the exact numbers remain disputed, the charity said that a lack of resource in Ituri – the region in northwestern DRC with one of the highest number of cases in the outbreak – may be allowing the virus to spread without detection. 

A health worker in personal protective equipment (PPE) stands near displaced people in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026

The current outbreak is one of the fastest-spreading since the 2014 outbreak which was linked to more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths across West Africa. 

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last month that the health response was not keeping pace with the speed of the outbreak.

He said: ‘We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment the epidemic is outpacing us.’

The first case was detected in May but there are fears that it may have been circulating for months beforehand.

All flights to and from Bunia, the capital of the Ituri region, have been grounded, though travel in and out of some other parts of the DRC is still permitted.

The Foreign Office advises against travelling to large parts of the DRC, particularly eastern provinces – such as Ituri – affected by the Ebola outbreak and conflict which has raged since 2022.

Experts believe the virus may have already spread to other nearby nations, such as South Sudan, though there have been no official cases reported.

In previous Ebola outbreaks, the virus has killed more than half of those infected, many of whom died due to internal bleeding and organ failure. 

It is feared that the Bundibugyo strain, which currently has no vaccine, can kill at a similar rate. Experts have warned that without protection, the virus will almost certainly continue to spread and kill.

Oxfam warned just one in five health facilities in Ituri has access to the necessary amount of clean water, which is ‘the first line of defence against transmission’ of the virus.

Oxfam said this raises ‘fears that the true scale of the outbreak is underestimated’.

On top of this, they claimed frontline health workers also cannot access ‘basic protective equipment’ – adding that these ‘conditions are hampering efforts to contain the spread of the virus’.

Manel Rebordosa, a field response coordinator for Oxfam in Ituri, said: ‘Water – the absolute first line of defense in any public health emergency – is simply not available.’

Oxfam’s concerns also stretched to the lack of contact tracing in the region. In the current outbreak, contact tracing is reaching just 43 per cent of known contacts, almost half the rate of the 2018 to 2020 Ebola outbreak in the same region. 

There are also troubling statistics surrounding access to healthcare in eastern DRC. The charity claim that more than 70 facilities have been destroyed, leaving just 0.2 doctors for every 1,000 people. 

Worryingly, the situation shows no signs of improving, as global funding to the DRC has been cut by almost half to around £1billion – the lowest figure in a decade.

For weeks there have been concerns that the virus could become a global issue.

Before the case was recorded in France, fears were sparked when suspected cases appeared in Brazil, Italy and Austria in recent weeks – though those tests ultimately came back negative.

The US’s health protection agency declared that the current outbreak could become the largest on record, while NHS staff have also been told to prepare for a potential outbreak on British shores.

A doctor wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) stands near an ambulance in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 15, 2026

Earlier this month, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) urged hospitals, GPs and frontline services to ensure they are ready to rapidly identify and isolate suspected Ebola patients, warning that while the risk to Britain remains low, imported cases are possible.

Healthcare providers have also been instructed to check they have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ensure staff are trained in its use, alongside clear protocols for managing suspected cases.

Elsewhere, clinicians were being reminded to consider Ebola in any patient who is acutely unwell with a fever and has travelled from affected regions within the past 21 days – the virus’s incubation period.

Under the guidance, suspected cases must be treated urgently, with patients isolated immediately and assessed by staff using protective measures.

Strict infection control procedures are required, and cases must be escalated rapidly to specialist public health teams, as Ebola is a notifiable disease in the UK.

Ebola killed 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. However, unlike that outbreak, the current crisis is caused by the Bundibugyo virus.

Symptoms remain the same across all Ebola variants, starting with a flu-like fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea before progressing to internal bleeding, organ failure and death.

The origin of the Bundibugyo variant is unknown but some researchers believe it was passed on to humans by fruit bats.

Scientists at Oxford University are racing to develop a vaccine, but warn that it will take two to three months before the jab can be tested on humans, meaning it is unlikely patients in Africa will get the drug within the next six months.

A successful vaccine would likely protect patients from severe illness and death as well as limit the spread of the virus. However, there is also no guarantee that the jab will be effective.

Experts say that the Bundibugyo strain is not new, but it is rare. The variant was first recorded in 2007 and takes its name from the area of western Uganda where it was spotted.

It then arose for a second time in the DRC in 2012. However, both outbreaks were limited in size – with just over 200 combined confirmed and probable cases and around 66 deaths.

It is thought to spread through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of a person who is sick or has died from the virus, or through contact with contaminated surfaces.

Patients can carry the virus for up to 21 days before symptoms begin, which is when experts believe they become infectious.