Eighty people have died in a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province, the country’s health ministry said late on Friday.
Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba said in a statement that samples tested on Thursday had confirmed eight cases of the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus in the health zones of Rwampara, Mongwalu and Bunia.
So far there have been 246 suspected cases of the virus, the ministry said. The suspected index case was a nurse who died at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia after showing symptoms that included fever, bleeding, vomiting and severe weakness.
The DRC government said it has activated its public health emergency operations center, strengthened epidemiological and laboratory surveillance, and ordered the rapid deployment of response teams.
Africa’s top public health agency said earlier on Friday there was a confirmed Ebola outbreak in DRC’s Ituri province, giving the death toll as 65 so far.
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