New Ebola outbreak: Death toll rises to 50

The Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo has now claimed 50 lives since the beginning of the month, the authorities said on Monday, as the government announced free treatment against the disease for the next three months.

The health ministry said that the death toll had been increased as of Sunday following a new victim in Mabalako-Mangina, close to Beni, the epicentre of the outbreak in the North Kivu province.

The current Ebola outbreak began on August 1 in Mangina in North Kivu.

It is the 10th outbreak to strike the DRC since 1976, when Ebola was first identified and named after a river in the north of the country.

Ebola has long been considered incurable, though swift isolation and the rapid treatment of symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration has helped some patients to survive.

– AFP