A top African Union (AU) health official has warned against curbing travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid heightened concerns the country's Ebola outbreak could spread more widely in the region. According to DRC's health ministry, the current Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,700 people - more than two-thirds of those who contracted it - since it emerged in the country's eastern North Kivu and Ituri provinces last August. 'Perfect storm'On Sunday, the DRC's health ministry registered the first case of Ebola in Goma, a city of some two million people in North Kivu and near the border with Rwanda. Outside of the case in Goma, and three fatal cases in Uganda last month, the outbreak has been confined to other largely rural regions of North Kivu and Ituri. Unidentified attackers killed two Ebola health workers near Mukulia in North Kivu last week, the latest in a string of assaults against medical personnel or health facilities.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 19, 2019 20:47 UTC