Ebola death toll in DR Congo rises to 655

By Alaattin Dogru

DAKAR, Senegal (AA) - The death toll from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has risen to 655 since the start of an outbreak last July, the country’s Health Ministry said Monday.

A total of 91 people were killed as a result of Ebola in the last two weeks, according to the ministry.

Among 1,146 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, 1,080 were confirmed to be Ebola cases.

And 80 people being treated for the disease, while 345 have recovered from the virus.

Some 66 people died following hemorrhagic fever, but it could not be verified whether they died of 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 Faruk Zorlu