Ebola death toll in DR Congo rises to 1,984

DAKAR, Senegal

The death toll from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has risen to 1,984 since its outbreak in July 2018, the country’s Health Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said among 3,128 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, some 3,017 were confirmed to be Ebola cases.

“Nearly 85 people are being treated for the disease, while 948 have recovered from the virus,” the ministry report said.

Some 111 people died following the hemorrhagic fever, but it could not be verified whether they died of Ebola.

As part of a campaign initiated in 2018, a number of 111,920 people were vaccinated against Ebola.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with body fluids, infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.

Ebola caused global alarm in 2014 when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar