DR Congo hit by Ebola's new grim milestone: Oxfam

ANKARA (AA) – The deadly Ebola virus has left roughly 2,000 people dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with 3,000 reported cases, Oxfam said on Thursday.

"This is yet another grim milestone for the Ebola outbreak in DRC and no end seems to be in sight,” Oxfam’s Country Director in the DRC, Corinne N’Daw, was quoted as saying in a statement.

N'Daw voiced concern on better training and equipment for health workers at check points.

“Worryingly the Ebola screening process, which relies on using a thermometer to spot any potential cases, doesn’t seem to be working. Several of the most recent confirmed cases are reported to have passed through a number of screening check points unnoticed. It’s crucial that local health workers on the frontline get much better training and equipment,” the official said.

Ebola cases have been found in two new areas in the the DRC over the last few weeks.

Last month, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC a “public health emergency of international concern”.

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 people 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.