Number Of Confirmed Ebola Cases In DRC Rises To 609 - Health Ministry

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published January 16, 2019 | 11:24 AM

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) increased to 609, while 402 people have been reported dead, the country's Ministry of Public Health said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) increased to 609, while 402 people have been reported dead, the country's Ministry of Public Health said.

The death toll from the virus in the DRC previously stood at 368, while the number of confirmed Ebola cases amounted to 560, according to the ministry.

"Ebola - the situation on Tuesday, January 15, 2019: a total of 658 cases (609 confirmed and 49 possible), 402 [people] died and 237 have recovered," the ministry posted on Twitter on Tuesday.

The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and is estimated by the World Health Organization to have a 50-percent fatality rate. Ebola is named after the DRC's Ebola River, near which the virus was discovered by Belgian microbiologist Peter Piot and his team in 1976.