Three new cases of Ebola have been confirmed by health officials in the north-eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It was discovered five months after the end of a previous Ebola outbreak in the same province, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

As of October 16, three new cases had been confirmed, including two deaths, in the Butsili Health Area of Beni Health Zone.

This brings the total to five confirmed cases with three deaths, the WHO’s office in Congo said on Monday on its Twitter account.

Five cases have so far been confirmed by health officials, including three deaths, since the first confirmed case of a two-year-old boy who died on October 6.

About 100 people likely to have been exposed to the virus have been identified, Congo’s health minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani, said without specifying whether the new cases were linked to the 2018 and 2020 Ebola outbreak.

Congo’s health ministry had on October 8 declared a resurgence of Ebola in the region, without clarifying the resurgence of another Ebola outbreak in the region.

The declaration is coming five months after the end of the last outbreak in the same region.

In early May 2021, Congo officially declared the end of the 12th Ebola outbreak in North Kivu province.

A total of 12 cases, including six deaths, have been reported since the last Ebola outbreak, which was declared on February 7 and marked the country’s 12th outbreak.

The cases were genetically linked to the 2018 and 2020 outbreak that killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Congo, the second deadliest on record.

(NAN)