Aid teams from the UN World Health Organization ( WHO) “cannot move freely to support the hospitals, even ambulances cannot run. It’s a situation that in public health is a nightmare,” said Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO Representive in DRC.

Democratic Republic of Congo authorities are investigating 12 possible cases of the deadly Ebola virus in its northwest, Africa's main health body said on Thursday, though first tests had come up negative.

As UN agencies reported "relative calm" on Wednesday in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), humanitarians warned that the chaos caused by advancing M23 rebel forces could fuel a region-wide health emergency.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a rare infection most commonly found in parts of central and east Africa. The seventh confirmed UK case was recorded in a person who had recently travelled to Uganda.

Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been told to halt all communication with the World Health Organization.

Rebels appear to be edging closer to taking control of the key city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo following reports that they had captured its airport.

A potential Ebola outbreak has been reported in the DRC, at a time when the Trump administration has paused communication with the WHO.

Japan has sent the Democratic Republic of the Congo 50,000 doses of a vaccine against mpox, previously known as monkeypox.

The area was also the epicentre of an outbreak of a new strain of mpox, declared a public health emergency of international concern in August 2024. Dr. Marschang warned that the new wave of displacement will make it increasingly hard to track and treat the disease.

British foreign secretary laments lack of global attention to crises in Africa compared with conflicts in other regions - Anadolu Ajansı

Advances being made by the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo are "heightening the threat of a regional war," according to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” against a rebel alliance that has besieged swaths of the nation’s mineral-rich east and forced hundreds of local troops and foreign mercenaries to surrender.