Seven new Ebola cases and two deaths were confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
One of the deaths occurred in the provincial capital of Mbandaka, according to a daily bulletin. A nurse also died in the village of Bikoro, where the outbreak was first detected, ministry spokeswoman Jessica Ilunga told Reuters.
The seven new confirmed cases were registered in Bikoro, the ministry said. The outbreak is believed to have killed at least 27 people so far.
Congo has faced nine outbreaks of the hemorrhagic fever since it was discovered along the country’s Ebola river in 1976.
The government and international partners have deployed significant resources to the northwestern Equateur province in a bid to quickly contain its spread.
Congo began on Monday a vaccination campaign Bikoro to stem the outbreak that has already spread from rural towns into a city of more than 1 million people.
There are 49 hemorrhagic fever cases: 22 confirmed as Ebola, 21 probable and six suspected, according to Health Minister Oly Ilunga.
"We have established surveillance mechanisms and are following all cases and contacts," he said. "The response is well-organized because we have also put in surveillance measures at the entry and exit points of Mbandaka."
In a hopeful sign, two patients who were confirmed as positive for Ebola have recovered and are returning to their homes, where they will be monitored, Ilunga said.
They have left the hospital "with a medical certificate attesting that they've recovered and can no longer transmit the disease because they have developed antibodies against Ebola," he said.
The vaccine, provided by US company Merck, is still in the test stages, but it was effective toward the end of the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from 2014 to 2016.
A major challenge will be keeping the vaccines cold in this vast, impoverished, tropical country where infrastructure is poor.
Congo President Joseph Kabila and his Cabinet agreed Saturday to increase funds for the Ebola emergency to more than $4 million. The Cabinet also endorsed the decision to provide free healthcare in the affected areas and to provide special care to all Ebola victims and their relatives.
This is Congo's ninth Ebola outbreak since 1976, when the disease was first identified. The virus is initially transmitted to people from wild animals, including bats and monkeys. It is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of those infected.
