Authorities in northeastern Congo on Friday banned wakes to curb Ebola spread, a day afterresidents torched part of a hospital when they were denied access to a victim’s body.

Ituri is the epicentre of the latest Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), for which there is no treatment or vaccine.

The provincial government also banned the transport of deceased Ebola victims in non-medical vehicles and said burials must be carried out in a specialised manner.

Authorities further ordered that public gatherings should not exceed 50 people and also suspended local football leagues.

The body of a deceased Ebola patient remains infectious, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that “safe and dignified burials” are necessary to curb transmission. Burials organised in unsafe manners have been identified as the leading cause of transmission.

“Anyone who touches the body during ‌carrying, washing, shrouding, or moving is at extremely high risk of contracting the virus,” said an official of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

The outbreak accelerated after a victim died in Bunia, Ituri’s capital, on April 24, and mourners touched him during the funeral rites.

On Thursday, a section of Rwampara General Hospital in Ituri Province, where Ebola patients are cared for, was set ablaze by family and friends of a footballer who died from the disease.

The incident occurred after health officials prevented the group from forcibly removing the body of Eli Munongo Wangu for burial.

The WHO said on Friday that about 750 suspected cases and 177 deaths had been recorded in northeastern Congo. Two cases were also detected in Uganda.

The global health body also elevated the risk of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola to “very high” nationally in DR Congo and high regionally.

“These numbers are changing as surveillance efforts and laboratory testing are improving, but violence and insecurity are impeding the response,” WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said.

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Wagner told the AP. “It is a race against the clock.”

Ms Wagner said that Congolese authorities had increased efforts to trace contacts of infected people, while emergency supplies were being rapidly delivered to Ituri.

Symptoms of Ebola typically appear within two to 21 days after direct contact with bodily fluids and include body aches, vomiting, and diarrhoea.