Ebola, often fatal despite recent advances in vaccines and treatments, has claimed 15,000 lives in Africa over the past 50 years.
The deadliest outbreak in DR Congo, from 2018 to 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people out of 3,500 infected.
Dieudonne Mwamba Kazadi, head of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), said the outbreak had “effectively ended” ahead of an official ceremony in Kinshasa.
Kazadi said there had been at least 34 fatalities from 53 confirmed cases. A further 11 deaths appear to have been caused by the virus, taking the likely total deaths to 45, he added.
DR Congo has had 16 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first identified in 1976, when the vast Central African country was known as Zaire.
The last outbreak, in the central province of Kasai, started on August 20, when a 34-year-old pregnant woman was admitted to the hospital.
The Congolese authorities officially declared an outbreak at the start of September.
A vaccination programme began in mid-September — a challenge in a country four times the size of France and where transportation infrastructure is limited and often in poor condition.
The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision, which manages global stocks, sent 45,000 extra doses of Ebola jabs to the DR Congo, which is one of the world’s poorest countries.
Human transmission of Ebola happens through bodily fluids. The main symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding, and diarrhoea.
The virus is contagious only when symptoms appear after an incubation period of two to 21 days.
