Congo’s fast-moving Ebola outbreak spreads to eighth province

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached an eighth province in the country’s north, authorities said on Sunday as the spread of the world’s fastest-growing outbreak of the disease on record continues to outpace response efforts.

The Health Ministry has recorded two cases, including one death, in Nord-Ubangi province, bordering the Central African Republic. The ministry said both patients were men in their 20s living in the Wapinda health zone, which borders Bas-Uele province, where Ebola cases have been reported previously.

Authorities have recorded at least 9,400 cases, including over 4,500 deaths, in the outbreak declared in mid-May, making it the deadliest in Congo’s history.

The virus has spilled over into other countries including neighboring Uganda, which has since declared itself free of the disease, and Kenya, which recorded an eighth case on Sunday. The Central African Republic has not recorded any confirmed cases.

“We see pockets of Ebola generally going down, but unfortunately geographically it’s spreading out,” World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Yakub Janabi told The Associated Press in an interview in Beni, eastern Congo, on Friday.

Janabi said one of the biggest challenges has been convincing those who are infected…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health