Ebola strikes Congo again

The latest flare-up comes one week after DRC's government declared the end of another outbreak that is believed to have killed as many as 33 people. There are 13 confirmed cases.

An outbreak of the Ebola virus declared this week in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to have killed 33 people, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Of those 13 case have been confirmed to be ebola.

The suspected cases of the haemorrhagic fever had been detected in both North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province, it said. 

The latest flare-up was announced one week after Congo's government declared the end of another outbreak in northwestern Congo that is believed to have killed as many people. 

Health authorities say



they have no evidence the two are connected.

So far, 879 people who came into contact with Ebola patients have been identified, the ministry said. 

Tracking those contacts, however, could be difficult in this part of the country, given its dense population and the presence of dozens of militia groups.

As with the outbreak in western Congo, health officials plan to deploy a vaccine manufactured by Merck that they have credited with helping disrupt the spread of the virus after it reached a river port city with transport links to the capital Kinshasa.

A so-called cold chain, the series of measures needed to keep the vaccine well below zero in a tropical climate without reliable power supplies, will be set up in Beni this weekend, the statement said.