Cape Town, 15 May 2026 (dpa/MIA) – Four people have died in a new outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Congo, health authorities said on Friday.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the confirmed fatalities were recorded in Ituri province, which borders Uganda and South Sudan in the north-east of the country.

A total of 13 cases of Ebola have so far been confirmed by a laboratory in Kinshasa, according to the CDC. In total, there are currently 246 suspected cases and 65 reported deaths.

Initial laboratory results suggest that the new outbreak is not linked to the most common Zaire Ebola virus, but a different strain. Sequencing results to further characterize the strain are expected within the next 24 hours, according to the CDC.

Ebola is a contagious and life-threatening infectious disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with bodily fluids.

As the most recent outbreak has been detected in an urban border region with heavy population movement, the health authority expressed concern about the risk of the virus spreading further.

An urgent coordination meeting with health authorities from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, as well as international health organizations, has been convened, the CDC said.

According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute, the Ebola mortality rate can be as high as 90% if infected individuals are not treated immediately.

More than 11,000 people died during an outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015.

The most recent Ebola cases in Congo were reported in September when 45 people died in the province of Kasaï in the south-west of the country during what was the 16th Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976.

MIA file photo