ADDIS ABABA: Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo updated the death toll from the Ebola outbreak to 204 late Saturday, hours after the Red Cross said three volunteers had died there and Uganda confirmed three new Ebola cases. A health ministry statement said 204 deaths had been recorded in three provinces of the vast central African country, from 867 suspected cases. The last World Health Organization toll on Friday put the number of deaths at 177 from 750 suspected cases. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the highly contagious hemorrhagic fever an international emergency. On Saturday, the African Union&#39;s health agency warned that more countries on the continent were at risk of being affected by the Ebola virus, in addition to the DRC and Uganda. &quot;We have 10 countries at risk,&quot; said Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), listing Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. Kaseya said &quot;high mobility and insecurity&quot; in the region were helping spread the disease. The new cases confirmed in Uganda on Saturday bring to five the total confirmed in the east African country since it was detected there and in the DRC on May 15. One person in Uganda has died. The health ministry named the new patients as a Ugandan driver, a Ugandan health worker and a woman from the DRC. All are alive. Ebola is a deadly viral disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure. The current epidemic centers on the conflict-wracked eastern DRC, where it was detected in Ituri province, which borders Uganda, before spreading to South Kivu. First known victimsThe Red Cross said on Saturday that three Congolese volunteers had died in Ituri after apparently contracting Ebola there. The three &quot;were carrying out dead body management activities on March 27 as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola&quot;, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). &quot;At the time of the intervention, the community was not aware of the Ebola virus disease outbreak... They are among the first known victims.&quot;Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half-century. On Friday,&nbsp;the WHO raised the risk from Ebola in the DRC to its highest level &ndash; &quot;very high&quot;. It said the risk in central Africa was &quot;high&quot; but the global risk remained &quot;low&quot;. The outbreak, which experts suspect was circulating under the radar for some time, is caused by the less common Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. On Thursday, Uganda suspended public transport to the DRC after confirming its first two cases &ndash; one infection and one death &ndash; involving Congolese nationals who crossed the border. It said the driver confirmed infected on Saturday had been at the wheel of the vehicle in which one of the ill Congolese nationals had travelled to Uganda.The health worker was exposed to the virus when treating that Congolese patient. The third case was a Congolese woman who had visited Uganda and tested positive for Ebola after returning to the DRC. &#39;Everyone&#39;s problem&#39;&nbsp;The eastern DRC has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving numerous armed groups. State services in rural areas of Ituri have been largely absent for decades. South Kivu is controlled by the Rwandan-backed armed group M23, which has never had to manage an epidemic like Ebola. &quot;This is everyone&#39;s problem,&quot; Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told a news conference in Addis Ababa alongside Kaseya. He said the Kinshasa government needed to have &quot;total control&quot; of the DRC territory to stop the virus spreading.

Africa

Health officials warn wider regional spread as new cases emerge in Uganda and deaths rise in Congo, prompting emergency response measures and concern across multiple African countries at risk of infection.

Ebola toll tops 200, other African countries seen at risk

ADDIS ABABA: A deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, African health authorities said Friday. Some 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have been reported and &quot;four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases,&quot; the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) said in a statement on social media. &quot;Ebola Virus Disease outbreak confirmed in Ituri Province,&quot; the pan-African health agency said. &quot;Africa CDC is closely monitoring the situation and convening an urgent high-level coordination meeting today with the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and global partners to reinforce cross-border surveillance, preparedness and outbreak response efforts,&quot; it said. First identified in 1976 and thought to have crossed over from bats, Ebola is a deadly viral disease spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, causing severe bleeding and organ failure. The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has killed some 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest Ebola outbreak in the DRC, between 2018 and 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people.

Medical workers lead a young girl with suspected Ebola into the unconfirmed Ebola patients ward run by The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) on August 12, 2018 in Beni, northeastern DRC.

African health authorities confirmed a deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with 246 suspected cases and 65 reported deaths so far.

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Ebola toll tops 200, other African countries seen at risk

Deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo: Health agency

Ebola toll tops 200, other African countries seen at risk