DRC Ebola deaths soar as outbreak rages

Two hundred and sixty people have died of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in four months in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Congolese Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that 444 cases had been registered since the beginning of the epidemic declared on August 1. 396 have been confirmed while 48 are probable.

According to the Ministry of Health, 260 deaths have been recorded and 140 people cured.

The Ministry also notes that “72 suspected cases are under investigation”.

Congolese Minister of Health, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said on Friday that the tenth epidemic in the DRC is the most serious in the world after the one that struck West Africa in 2014.

The DRC has suffered nine Ebola epidemics since the disease first appeared on its soil in 1976.

The North Kivu and Ituri provinces of eastern DRC hit by the Ebola epidermic are equally battling insecurity due to the —presence of several national and foreign armed groups.