MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th June, 2020) The number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) northwestern Equateur Province increased to 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) Office for the African Region said on Monday.
"The latest Situation Report from the 11th Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in #Mbandaka, Équateur Province #DRC (reported 14th June 2020). 17 cases (14 confirmed & 3 probable), with 11 associated deaths," the WHO wrote on Twitter.
On June 1, DRC Health Minister Eteni Longondo announced a new Ebola cluster in the city of Mbandaka. The epidemic began in August 2018 and has claimed over 2,200 lives.
The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and is estimated by the WHO to have a 50-percent fatality rate. Ebola is named after the DRC's Ebola River, which is near where the virus was discovered by Belgian microbiologist Peter Piot and his team in 1976.
