1 new Ebola death confirmed in Congo, bringing total to 12

AP  |  Kinshasa 

Another person has died in of a confirmed case of Ebola, bringing the number of fatalities to 12, said the country's ministry.

now has 35 confirmed cases.

workers have identified people who have been in contact with confirmed cases in three areas in province, the rural areas of Bikoro and Iboko and Mdbandaka, the provincial capital of 1.2 million that is a transport hub on the River.

Congo's Saturday flew by helicopter to Bikoro and Iboko to see the deployment of health workers who will be tracing those who have been in contact with cases and inoculating them with a new experimental vaccine.

was accompanied by representatives of the and The campaign in those rural is to begin Monday.

The campaign is already under way in Mbandaka, where four Ebola cases have been confirmed. About 100 health workers have been vaccinated there as front-line workers face high risk from the virus, which is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead.

The next few weeks are crucial in determining whether the outbreak can be brought under control, according to the Complicating factors include its spread to a major city, the fact that health workers have been infected and the existence of three or four "separate epicenters" that make finding and monitoring contacts of infected people more difficult.

WHO told a meeting in on Saturday that "I am personally committed to ensuring that we do everything we can to stop this outbreak as soon as possible."

WHO is using a "ring vaccination" approach, targeting the contacts of people infected or suspected of and then the contacts of those people. More than 600 contacts have been identified.

WHO also is accelerating efforts with nine neighbouring countries to try to prevent the Ebola outbreak from spreading there, saying the regional risk is high. It has warned against international travel and trade restrictions.

This is outbreak since 1976, when the hemorrhagic was first identified.

There is no specific treatment for Ebola. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and at times internal and external bleeding. The virus can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases, depending on the strain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, May 27 2018. 19:50 IST