A second Ebola infection wave is spreading in Congo’s north-eastern Beni region, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Friday.

File: A seller of bananas walks past a slogan painted on a wall reading “Ebola” in Monrovia on August 31, 2014. Liberia on August 30, 2014 said it would deny permission for any crew to disembark from ships at the country’s four seaports until the Ebola epidemic ravaging west Africa was under control. AFP PHOTO

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More than half of the new cases over recent weeks appeared in the Beni Health Zone, which had already seen high infection rates about one year ago for several weeks, the Geneva-based UN agency said.

According to Congo’s Health Ministry, some 2,600 cases have been recorded as of July 23. At least 1,765 patients have died.

However, the WHO suspects that a quarter of all infections might not be detected, as people die but their relatives do not know that they had Ebola.

The WHO declared the Ebola outbreak an international health emergency earlier in July, after the haemorrhagic fever spread to Goma, a major urban centre near the border with Rwanda.

Efforts to curb the spread of the virus are difficult because of the numerous rebel groups that are operating in eastern Congo. (dpa/NAN)

Vanguard