Ebola in DR Congo: Death toll climbs to 322

By Alaattin Dogru

DAKAR, Senegal (AA) - The death toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo from Ebola has risen to 322 since the start of an outbreak in late July last year, the Health Ministry said on Friday.

Among 609 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, 561 were confirmed to be infected with Ebola virus, according to the ministry.

It has also been reported that 208 people have recovered from the virus in the Central African country.

At least 48 people died following hemorrhagic fever, but it couldn't be verified whether they died of Ebola because they were buried without an autopsy.

Some 54,500 people were vaccinated against Ebola virus in the country as part of a campaign that began on Aug. 8, 2018.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of 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 others as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.