Are we heading for another Ebola crisis?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Today in Focus – "Are we heading for another Ebola crisis?"
The Guardian, May 22, 2026
Hosted by Annie Kelly and Cat Lay

---

Episode Overview

This episode examines the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), its alarming scale, the lack of an available vaccine for this particular strain, and the regional and global implications of a rapidly escalating situation. On-the-ground reporter Cat Lay offers insights from the World Health Assembly in Geneva, while journalist Prosper Eri Ngora shares experiences from the DRC itself. The show explores the public health, social, and psychological impact, and assesses if the world is truly better prepared for pandemics after COVID-19.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Alarming Outbreak at the World Health Assembly

• The annual World Health Assembly in Geneva has been overshadowed by growing concern about the Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
  • "This year feels a little bit different because everyone you go up to... at some point in every session, someone is going to say, oh, this Ebola outbreak in the DRC looks a bit worrying, doesn't it?" (Health Expert / Analyst, 01:49)
• WHO has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
  • "Just a few days ago, WHO declared Ebola as a public health emergency of international concern." (WHO Assembly Chair, 02:27)

2. Severity and Spread of the Outbreak

• The outbreak is notable for its speed and the lack of a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain.
  • "There's over 100 dead. There is no vaccine for this strain." (Annie Kelly, 02:39)
• Local health systems are overwhelmed, exacerbated by porous borders and regional instability.
  • "The cases are well over 300. There's been a number of deaths. It's a very porous border." (Health Professional, 02:07)

3. Ebola Basics and Historical Context

• Ebola’s initial symptoms can be mistaken for flu, but rapidly progress to severe, sometimes fatal, bleeding and organ failure.
  • "Ebola is a disease that can be caused by six different types of ortho Ebola viruses… you get what's called the wet symptoms. So you get vomiting, diarrhea, deadly bleeding." (Health Expert / Analyst, 04:58)
• The Bundibugyo variant, current in the DRC, has a death rate between 30–50%.
• The 2013–2016 West Africa outbreak infected over 28,000 people, killing 11,000. Key strategies involved isolation, tracing, and public health measures due to a lack of vaccines and therapeutics at the time.
  • "It took two years to get on top of that outbreak… painstaking process of identifying cases, isolating them, finding out who they'd been in contact with…" (Health Expert / Analyst, 07:29)

4. Details of the Current DRC Outbreak

• The outbreak started in Ituri, a conflict-affected, remote area with significant population movement due to mining.
  • "It's a very remote area… It takes five days to get from Kinshasa… conflict in the area has displaced thousands… a lot of mining activity. So you get a lot of people moving around." (Health Expert / Analyst, 10:40)
• Misidentification and delayed diagnosis resulted from initial lab tests only detecting the Zaire strain, not Bundibugyo.
  • "A lot of time is wasted... because they were looking for the wrong strain of Ebola. And this is a rarer kind that currently has no vaccine." (Cat Lay/Annie Kelly, 10:13)
• Outbreak numbers increased rapidly:
  • "246 suspected cases, 65 deaths… a few days later, we were at 500 cases and 130 suspected deaths." (Health Expert / Analyst, 08:07)

5. Impact on Communities and Local Response

• Stigma, fear, and misinformation challenge the public health response.
  • "There are stigma associated with Ebola. Some people believe that when you catch Ebola it is like a curse." (Prosper Eri Ngora, 14:59)
  • Some community members resist protective measures, seeing them as intrusive.
• Social and economic impacts compound the health crisis: closed borders with Rwanda, disrupted trade, and already fragile infrastructure.
• Local strategies to prevent spread include handwashing and mask use.

6. Health System and International Support

• DRC’s health infrastructure is extremely limited and heavily reliant on international aid, which has decreased in recent years.
  • "We are among least developed countries. It means our health infrastructures are very poor… DRC depends on international aids." (Prosper Eri Ngora, 17:10)
• The outbreak’s control is hindered by violence targeting healthcare workers and facilities.

7. Race for a Vaccine

• No vaccine currently exists for the Bundibugyo strain; vaccines are only in early development stages.
  • "There are vaccines at various stages of development. None have entered human trials yet. It will be...weeks, probably months..." (Health Expert / Analyst, 20:25)

8. Preparedness and Global Lessons after COVID-19

• Despite hopes that COVID-19 would lead to better outbreak preparedness, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board finds that little meaningful progress has been made.
  • "On some measures, things have changed… But at the same time, you have things like the US withdrawing from that kind of global system… fragmentation, this huge growth in mistrust, in misinformation." (Health Expert / Analyst, 21:32)
• Increased frequency of outbreaks is partly due to climate change, habitat encroachment, population movement, and improved detection.
  • "Yes, they are becoming more frequent… changing climate… people encroaching on wild space… much more interconnected world." (Health Expert / Analyst, 23:15)

9. Lasting Impact

• Survivors of previous outbreaks continue to suffer long-term health and psychological effects.
  • "Ebola can have quite a long tail in terms of effects on eye problems, muscle problems, sometimes neurological problems." (Health Expert / Analyst, 24:23)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Just those numbers really kind of bring those images back to the front of your mind." (Health Expert / Analyst, 02:58)
• "Currently, I'm on panic mode because people are dying. I don't have medicines, I don't have vaccine." (Local Resident / Health Worker, 04:37)
• "The DRC, this disease or this outbreak doesn't have any vaccine—that creates panic." (Prosper Eri Ngora, 13:32)
• "When you have Ebola you are isolated… It can sometimes frustrate you… to cope with all those misconceptions." (Prosper Eri Ngora, 14:59)
• "I'm afraid and I'm optimistic… I believe that at the end of the time we will overcome this disease. It will be a painful experience, but nothing doesn't have an end. If it begins, it will end." (Prosper Eri Ngora, 18:16)
• "It must feel extremely scary." (Health Expert / Analyst, 24:23)

---

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 01:07 — The significance of the World Health Assembly and current mood
• 02:07 — Rising case numbers and concerns about border control
• 02:27 — WHO declaration of international emergency
• 04:37 — Local panic due to lack of medicine and vaccine
• 06:36 — Recap of the 2013–2016 Ebola crisis
• 08:07 — Timeline and speed of the current outbreak
• 10:40 — Geography, conflict dynamics, and spread mechanism
• 12:20 — Journalist’s perspective from the DRC (Prosper Eri Ngora)
• 14:59 — Stigma and community response to Ebola
• 17:10 — DRC’s health capacity and reliance on international aid
• 20:25 — The race to develop a vaccine
• 21:32 — Post-COVID-19 global preparedness assessment
• 23:15 — Upward trend in disease outbreaks and causative factors
• 24:23 — Lasting physical and mental aftereffects on survivors

---

Conclusion

The episode paints a sobering picture of a new Ebola crisis threatening the DRC and its neighbors, highlighting vulnerabilities in both local capacity and global health response. While past pandemics have prompted some scientific advances, systemic challenges—ranging from conflict and poverty to international fragmentation and mistrust—continue to undermine preparedness. Community fears, infrastructural deficits, and the urgent need for a vaccine compound the crisis. The voices of journalists and residents from the region stress both the painful human toll and the determined hope that, with collective effort, the epidemic will eventually be brought under control.

Transcript

[Annie Kelly]

This is the Guardian.

[Cat Lay]

Today.

[Annie Kelly]

How worried should the world be about the latest Ebola outbreak?

[Barclays Investment Bank Narrator]

From globalization to innovation sustainability to market volatility, there's always more than one side to a story. Explore different perspectives on today's most important business and economic issues with the Flipside podcast from Barclays Investment Bank. Hear two research analysts in a lively debate and get insights from every angle. To further inform your view, listen to the Flipside on your favorite platform.

[WHO Official]

Excellencies,

[WHO Assembly Chair]

Excellencies, let's begin our work.

[Annie Kelly]

This week, thousands of the world's most distinguished public health experts have all descended on a conference centre in Switzerland.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

The World Health assembly happens every year in Geneva. All of the countries who are members of the World Health Organization come together and talk about what it's been doing, what they want it to do for the next year.

[Annie Kelly]

They have committees to discuss things like antimicrobial resistance, neglected tropical diseases and mental health. It's a big deal, basically, like the Glastonbury of public health summits. Except, of course, it's a public health

[Health Expert / Analyst]

summit, so it can be quite dry.

[WHO Assembly Chair]

Let us know. Continue with adoption.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

It can be quite procedural to add

[WHO Assembly Chair]

this item to the agenda, but this

[Health Expert / Analyst]

year feels a little bit different because everyone you go up to, everyone you talk to, at some point in every session, someone is going to say, oh, this Ebola outbreak in the DRC looks a bit worrying, doesn't it?

[Health Professional]

I am very worried about the DRC. The cases are well over 300. There's been a number of deaths. It's a very porous border.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

And when they say worrying, you kind of, you sit up and listen. Because these are health professionals. They're used to dealing with outbreaks. They're not really given to hyperbole.

[WHO Assembly Chair]

Just a few days ago, WHO declared Ebola as a public health emergency of international concern.

[Annie Kelly]

Ebola outbreaks aren't that unusual, but this one could be different. There's over 100 dead. There is no vaccine for this strain. And people are getting scared that we could once again see scenes reminiscent of the world's worst Ebola epidemic of a decade ago.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

You start thinking about that time of overcrowded treatment centers, you know, bodies in the streets. I don't want to be alarmist. The world has got better at dealing with Ebola, but just those numbers really kind of bring those images back to the front of your mind.

[Annie Kelly]

From the Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today in Focus, are we heading for another Ebola crisis?

[Cat Lay]

Catlay, you're the Guardian's global health correspondent and you are currently In Geneva, Switzerland, for the world Health Assembly. This is, you know, an enormous summit where delegations from 194 member states gather to discuss global health policies. Now we have this Ebola outbreak, which I imagine is causing some concern.

[Annie Kelly]

So can you tell us first, like,

[Cat Lay]

how has that disrupted everyone there?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

I mean, it's something that everyone is talking about. It's something that Dr. Tedros, the director general, felt he had to address in his opening remarks.

[WHO Official]

I'm deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic. We will convene the emergency committee today to advise us on temporary recommendations.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

The head of Africa, cdc, which is the continent's kind of top public health body, Dr. Jean Cassia. He was supposed to be in Geneva this week. He was actually here at the weekend, but he has cancelled all his meetings and he's flown back to Africa so that he can kind of be on the ground dealing with this Ebola outbreak.

[Local Resident / Health Worker]

Currently, I'm on panic mode because people are dying. I don't have medicines, I don't have vaccine. This outbreak now in DRC is out of Ituri. It's going to other regions.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

I think it's a sign of how seriously people are taking this outbreak.

[Cat Lay]

Can you just remind us, you know, what is Ebola and what are its symptoms?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

So Ebola is a disease that can be caused by six different types of ortho Ebola viruses. And they cause symptoms that in the first case, they don't seem that different from another cold or a flu. You know, you've got your aches, pains, shivers, and then they progress and you get what's called the wet symptoms. So you get vomiting, diarrhea, deadly bleeding.

[Cat Lay]

Right? And that bleeding, I mean, it's a

[Annie Kelly]

really horrible disease, isn't it?

[Cat Lay]

I'm sure we all remember the pictures from the last big outbreak quite a few years ago. Now, it is a nasty, nasty disease, isn't it?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

It is. I mean, Ebola viruses can cause fatality rates of up to 80, 90%, but it is much less transmissible than Covid or flu. I think, for the bundibugio variant, which is what we're talking about in the DRC. Previous outbreaks, you've seen death rates of between 30 to 50%. So it's quite scary.

[Cat Lay]

Right, and how is it spread?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

How do people catch spreads? Through contacts with bodily fluids. So someone caring for an Ebola patient might come into contact with the vomit or their blood. In previous outbreaks, we've seen that funerals are quite a common place for Ebola to spread, and that's because people are interacting with the body, you know, preparing it for burial.

[Cat Lay]

And I'm sure most of us remember the last Ebola outbreak, I think started 2013. Can you tell us how bad did that get and how did they eventually manage to contain it?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

More than 28,000 people were affected and more than 11,000 died. It spread across multiple countries.

[Health Crisis Expert]

This health crisis we face is unparalleled in modern times. What was a linear increase in cases to now? Almost an exponential increase in cases.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

And I'm sure you remember this huge international response where you had teams flying in, setting up temporary hospitals. Those images of people in almost. They look like spacesuits covering your whole body to protect the health workers from the virus.

[Health Expert Warning]

And people are literally dying in the streets. If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

It took two years to get on top of that outbreak. And that came at a time when we didn't have drugs or vaccines against Ebola. And that was contained through this painstaking process of identifying cases, isolating them, finding out who they'd been in contact with, then isolate those people at risk and really try and break those chains of transmission.

[Cat Lay]

And this current outbreak of Ebola that we've been hearing about this week, when did you first hear about that?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

So this outbreak I first heard about on Friday when an email popped into my inbox from the Africa cdc and it said, there's an outbreak of ebola in the DRC. There's 246 suspected cases, there's 65 deaths. And I was looking at it thinking, this must be an ongoing outbreak of Ebola that I've somehow missed. Because those numbers, they're not what you expect to see when you're first hearing about an outbreak. They're the kind of level of cases, deaths that you might see a good few weeks, maybe months into an outbreak. A few days later, we were already at 500 cases and 130 suspected deaths. So that's a doubling in a matter of days.

[Cat Lay]

Wow. So it's moved really quickly.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Absolutely.

[WHO Official]

This is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in DRC.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

And then on Sunday, the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency of international concern.

[WHO Official]

Today I have released US$500,000 from WHO's contingency fund for emergencies to immediately support the response.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Right.

[Annie Kelly]

So there are already cases in Uganda, and there is one American patient who was working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who has been flown to Germany. But where did all of this start in the drc?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

So Almost all the cases are in the Ituri region of the drc, which borders South Sudan. It borders Uganda. The kind of first death was on April 27th. And there were some local tests done around that time. The tests that were being used, they only pick up the Zaire strain. So the local officials doing those tests thought, this isn't Ebola.

[Cat Lay]

Oh, I see.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

They did send samples to the national lab, which is why a few days later we found out, actually, no, it is this other strain, the Bundibudgya strain. Right.

[Cat Lay]

So a lot of time is wasted

[Annie Kelly]

because they were looking for the wrong strain of Ebola. And this is a rarer kind that currently has no vaccine.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Yeah. So this is a really interesting element of potentially why it took a bit longer than ideal to raise the alarm.

[Cat Lay]

Could you give us an idea of where this outbreak is occurring? What is the health capacity in those areas where these cases are spreading?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

It's a very remote area. So I've been talking to people and they say, you know, it takes us five days to get from Kinshasa to this area. It's a conflict affected area. So there are rival militias kind of vying for control in the area. The conflict in the area has displaced thousands of people, you know, over the last year. It's also an area where there's a lot of mining activity. So you get a lot of people moving around. They come there for work and then maybe they go home. So it's a place where maybe it's quite good conditions for a virus to spread because people might get infected and then they're moving around.

[Cat Lay]

Right. In terms of this being a place where people are experiencing conflict, they're being displaced. I imagine also that might prevent people seeking treatment or making the journey to a local healthcare facility as well, if they're concerned about security.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Yeah. We've seen actually increasingly over recent years, healthcare facilities becoming targets in conflicts of all kinds. And that can really put people off going to a clinic or a hospital. I was speaking to one doctor and he was saying, even if we did have a vaccine for this strain, you can't be sending vaccinators in where healthcare professionals are being killed. It makes it much harder to deliver that kind of health work.

[Annie Kelly]

Prosper. Eri Ngora, you're a journalist based in the eastern DRC in a city called Goma, which is a few hundred kilometers away from where this outbreak is happening. And you've covered many Ebola outbreaks in the region. How is it for you as a journalist to report on this disease covering

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

These outbreak happening in our area isn't easy at all. Before being journalists, we are citizens that are also affected by these outbreak. So we are also psychologically affected to see our fellow citizens losing their lives due to these outbreaks. But overall we are journalists. We are doing our best to cover such events so that the world can be aware of what's happening on the ground and then world leaders can take decision to save thousands of lives in our region and prosper.

[Cat Lay]

The outbreak is currently nowhere near the size of the ebola crisis between 2013 and 2016. But tell me, how worried are people

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

the DRC, this disease or this outbreak doesn't have any vaccine that creates panic. They are dealing with the effect of armed conflicts. They are dealing, for example here in Goma with the closure of Goma International Airport. They are dealing with the closure of banks for more than one year. And then Ebola comes and as we speak, Rwanda has closed its borders with Democratic Republic of Congo. And that really affects thousands of lives because cross border trade was like a lifeline for many families here in Goma. Some people here in Goma have already taken measures in order to protect themselves. Some people are washing their hands. Even some people are buying masks to put on their noises. People are trying to do their best to make sure they, they protect themselves and above all they protect the whole community from getting these dangerous diseases decimating the region, Eastern Congo and Uganda.

[Cat Lay]

And obviously contracting Ebola is like, it's

[Annie Kelly]

horrific, the vomiting, the bleeding.

[Cat Lay]

But also what about the way people

[Annie Kelly]

are treated by others in their community if they do get infected?

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

There are stigma associated with Ebola. Some people believe that when you catch Ebola it is like a curse. And apart from that, when you have Ebola you are isolated. Human beings are social animals. When you are isolated from people, from your family, from your friends, it can sometimes frustrate you. It can be really hard for you to cope with all those misconceptions, to cope with all those doubts surrounding that disease and prosper.

[Annie Kelly]

As part of your reporting, you've been calling people in the affected area.

[Local Resident / Health Worker]

Hello, we.

[Annie Kelly]

And what have people been telling you?

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

People are concerned in the whole Democratic Republic of Congo. I have spoken with Claude Cassuna, he's a Ituri resident. He has said that he's afraid, he fears that the disease because many people there have many beliefs that doesn't have any scientific basis. He has stated that when you say about the need of social distancing and wearing masks, people tend to oppose saying that such measures are bothering them. Luak Mombesa who is a resident of Mungwalu, an epicenter of the disease. He has shared with me a fact that he knows a family who lost their eight years old daughter and the girl has symptoms such vomiting weaknesses throughout her body and he said that doctors are monitoring other family's members to assess their health. He underlined that the population is now starting to realize the danger they are facing.

[Cat Lay]

And how prepared is the DRC for an outbreak like the one we're seeing.

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

We are among least developed countries. It means our health infrastructures are very poor. We don't have modern technology that can help us to deal with such outbreaks. Apart from that, yes, our country, Democratic Republic of Congo depend on international aids. We have seen when Donald Trump came into power he has shut down aids.

[Critic of USAID]

There's no reason for USAID. When you look at the politicians that have been in their son sucking the blood out of it. When you look at all of the fake deals, it's fake, it's fraudulent, it's

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

probably kickbacks and those international aid were helping Congolese government to withstand some outbreaks when there is no aid that can affect negatively. All your efforts aiming at combating or at ending outbreaks that are happening in the region, what are your hopes that

[Cat Lay]

this outbreak will actually get under control?

[Prosper Eri Ngora]

So I'm afraid and I'm optimistic. Yes, it is a danger, but all efforts are being done by international partners and Congolese authorities. I believe that at the end of the time we will overcome this disease. It will be a painful experience, but nothing doesn't have an end. If it begins, it will end.

[Annie Kelly]

Coming up, the race to find a vaccine.

[Aura Advertiser]

Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers.

It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere.

That's where Aura comes in. Aura actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off.

They also instantly alert you if your

information shows up in a breach or on the dark web.

[Aura Advertiser / Jackson Advertiser]

But Aura goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a vpn, antivirus, password manager, spam, call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5

[Aura Advertiser]

million in identity theft insurance.

All backed by 24, 7 US based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring

or even just a vpn. Aura gives you all at the same price competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial [e-mail] safety. Protect yourself [e-mail] safety.

[Annie Kelly]

Kat, how's the race going to develop a vaccine for this particular strain?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Certainly Africa? CDC say that they are going to need millions more in funding to get on top of this. So there are vaccines at various stages of development. None have entered human trials yet. It will be certainly weeks, probably months before those protocols can kind of be developed and experimental treatments even can be deployed on the ground.

[Annie Kelly]

Right, okay.

[Cat Lay]

So with that in mind, how big could this outbreak potentially get?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

So, I mean, that is the big question. The DRC has experience dealing with Ebola outbreaks. This is its 17th. And we can do it without vaccines, without therapeutics, through this kind of painstaking process of tracking down cases and who they've been in contact with. It's just a lot harder and it takes a lot longer.

[Cat Lay]

So I guess after the COVID 19 pandemic, we would all hope that the world is now better prepared for future pandemics.

[Annie Kelly]

But is that actually the case?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

So there was a fairly damning report out on Monday from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. And that was a group that was set up actually in the wake of that big ebola outbreak in 2016 to look at whether the world was becoming safer from outbreaks of infectious diseases. And it found actually, no, not meaningfully. It's quite scary. On some measures, things have changed. So we have new drugs, we have new scientific advances, you have changes to the way countries cooperate. But at the same time, you have things like the US withdrawing from that kind of global system. You have, particularly post Covid, this kind of fragmentation, this huge growth in mistrust, in misinformation. And so those are kind of counterbalancing those advances and making it seem as if maybe we're not actually in a better place than we were before COVID or before that big Ebola outbreak.

[Cat Lay]

So that's a pretty worrying picture that you're painting here. And it's not just Ebola, is it? People have been really alarmed by the spread of this rodent borne hantavirus after we saw that cruise ship kind of plagued by the spread of that disease. It seems like that there might be an impression that there seemed to be this kind of spike in disease outbreaks. Is that just a perception or are these virus events actually becoming more common?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Part of what's happening now is that we're getting better at spotting these outbreaks. But yes, they are becoming more frequent and that's Got a number of drivers. You have a changing climate which is perhaps making better conditions for certain pathogens. You have people encroaching on what was once wild space. And so getting closer to, you know, whether it's the bats or the rats that harbour these viruses, you have a much more interconnected world. So people can hop on a plane and be on the other side of the planet in a matter of hours. Whereas once upon a time the spread of the disease would have been that much slower because the flow of people was that much slower.

[Annie Kelly]

And Kat, even once this current Ebola crisis is, you know, hopefully contained, do you think it would have left its mark on those towns and villages that have already been affected?

[Health Expert / Analyst]

I know that survivors of that big outbreak in 2016, they're still living with the after effects. A decade on Ebola can have quite a long tail in terms of effects on eye problems, muscle problems, sometimes neurological problems. If you're living in an area where there's an outbreak, it must feel extremely scary.

[Cat Lay]

Kat, thank you so much for joining us today.

[Health Expert / Analyst]

Thank you for having me.

[Cat Lay]

And that's it for today.

[Annie Kelly]

My thanks again to Cat Lay and Prosper Eri Ngora.

[Cat Lay]

And you can read all of their

[Annie Kelly]

reporting on the ebola [e-mail] this episode was produced by Saskia Colette and presented by me, Annie Kelly. Sound design was by Ross Burns and the executive producer was Elizabeth Kasson. And we will be back this afternoon with the latest. This is the Guardian

[Aura Advertiser / Jackson Advertiser]

Foreign.

[Jackson Advertiser]

This message comes from Jackson. Taxes aren't something you can only think about once a year, with investments planning for tax days year round. Fortunately, Jackson offers tax efficient products. Visit Jackson.com for more information on how our products can make your tax bill a little bit less painful. Jackson is short for Jackson Financial Incorporated, Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Lansing, Michigan, and Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York Purchase, New York.

[Aura Advertiser]

Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers.

It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere.

That's where Aura comes in. Aura actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off.

They also instantly alert you if your

information shows up in a breach or on the dark web.

[Aura Advertiser / Jackson Advertiser]

But Aura goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a VPN antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance.

[Aura Advertiser]

All backed by 24.

7 US based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring

or even just a vpn. Aura gives you all of it together at the same price competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today at aura.com safety protect yourself [e-mail] safety.