Confirmed Ebola deaths hit 600 new cases emerge

New suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in parts of Congo that were previously unaffected, the government said yesterday, as the death toll in the country’s latest Ebola outbreak reached 600.

According to the Congolese health ministry, suspected cases have now been recorded in the provinces of Tshopo and Haut-Uele, signaling the continued spread of the disease beyond the epicenter in Ituri.

A Congolese government report, published late Wednesday, said two new cases were suspected in Kisangani, in Tshopo province.

The minister did not say how many cases were suspected in Haut-Uele. The total number of confirmed cases across the country has now reached 1,759.

According to the report, one of the two suspected cases in Tshopo was linked to the Nia-Nia health zone in Ituri province, where the first cases were reported, while the other case “has no apparent geographical connection to known outbreaks.” Authorities were investigating.

The Congolese authorities declared a fresh Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been transmitted for weeks without official detection, according to the World Health Organisation.

The latest outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment.

Last week, clinical trials for treatment began after researchers launched a highly anticipated study in the hope of fighting the virus.

Efforts to contain the virus have also been hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centers, and an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak.-AP

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A coffin of an Ebola victim being carried to a gravesite

Eswatini receives 11 US deportees as part of migration crackdown

The southern African kingdom of Eswatini has accepted a fourth group of people deported from the United States under a bilateral agreement to host third-country nationals, with 11 people arriving this week, the government said yesterday.

Acting government spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said the group, predominantly from African countries, would remain in the kingdom temporarily while their rights were protected.

“The government reaffirms that, during their temporary stay in the Kingdom, the fundamental rights of the third-country nationals will be respected and protected in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Eswatini and the Kingdom’s international obligations,” Mdluli said in a statement.

Under a series of often-secret agreements that are part of a broad U.S. crackdown on immigration, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say.

Mdluli said measures were in place to safeguard Eswatini’s security and that of its residents while the deportees remain in the country.

The latest arrivals are expected to be housed at Matsapha Maximum Security Prison, according to officials familiar with the arrangement.

Eswatini, a country of about 1.2 million people bordering South Africa, began accepting third-country nationals deported from the United States in 2025 under an agreement to host people who cannot be returned directly to their countries of origin. The latest arrivals are the fourth group received under the deal.

The Trump administration has also sent third-country deportees to the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Congo, among others on the continent, as it seeks destinations for migrants who cannot be repatriated directly.

The Eswatini government has not disclosed the terms of its agreement with Washington or released details about the deportees’ nationalities, legal status or how long they are expected to remain in the country.

Under the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program, Eswatini has received multiple batches of U.S. deportees, making it one of the most prominent participants in Africa.

The arrangement has drawn criticism from human rights groups over a lack of transparency and parliamentary oversight. Civic groups in Eswatini have also taken authorities to court to challenge the legality of holding foreign nationals in prison without charge.

Eswatini said that the men would be repatriated but could be held there for up to a year.-AP

German doctor jailed over murder of 15 patients

A German palliative care doctor has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 15 of his patients.

A court in Berlin found the 41-year-old man, named only as Johannes M. in line with German privacy rules, guilty of murdering 12 women and 3 men between September 2021 and July 2024.

The authorities believe these killings could be just the tip of the iceberg. Prosecutors are currently investigating dozens of other incidents involving the doctor.

His victims were between the ages of 25 and 94. The court heard how they were all critically ill, but that their deaths were not imminent.

Prosecutors said that during home visits, the doctor administered a lethal combination of various medicines without his patients’ consent.

On several occasions, they said he set fires to cover his tracks.

In July 2024, shortly before his arrest, prosecutors said the doctor killed two patients in a single day – a 75-year-old man at his home in central Berlin and, a few hours later, a 76-year-old woman in a neighbouring district.

They said the doctor tried to set fire to the woman’s house, but failed.

For much of the trial, which has gone on for about a year, the doctor said nothing. But last month, he confessed to having “killed people,” twelve of his severely ill patients.

He told the court he had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing, sparing them “suffering and infirmity”.

“Throughout it all, I thought this was the best thing for everyone,” he said.

He said he apologised for all the suffering he had caused.

The authorities suspect him of having killed further patients. Prosecutors are currently investigating 76 other cases.

German media say if the further cases are proven, and he is found guilty, it would be one of the largest incidences of serial murder in Germany’s history.

The doctor told the court that he would “get involved much earlier in the forthcoming proceedings.”

Earlier in the trial, relatives of the victims told the court they still couldn’t believe it.

The mother of the youngest victim, a 25-year-old woman who died in 2021, was in tears. “She never said she didn’t want to live anymore,” she said.

The son of a 72-year-old woman who died in 2024, said his mother had had plans to go to the Baltic Sea with her sister. “My mother wanted to keep on living,” he said.

The court ruled that the doctor’s guilt was particularly serious. It ordered that the doctor be put in preventive detention, following his prison sentence. It also imposed a lifetime ban on him practicing medicine.-BBC

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