DR Congo Ebola outbreak killed more than 4,000: official figures

The worst ever Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now killed more than 4,000 people out of more than 8,000 confirmed cases, Congolese officials said on Friday.

The Ebola outbreak, officially detected in mid-May, has hit unstable regions in the vast central African country where armed clashes and violence, alongside a critical lack of resources, have hindered the health response to the deadly virus in recent days.

According to the latest official data, there have been 4,018 fatalities from 8,300 cases, with 2,162 people recovering, giving a fatality rate to date of 48.4 percent.

Also recorded have been four deaths among six cases in North Kivu province in the northeast in areas controlled by the anti-government group M23, the Kigali-backed group stated Friday.

After starting in Ituri, also in the northeast, the current outbreak has spread to seven provinces in the north and east.

The response has been hindered by conflict but also mistrust of authority which runs deep among inhabitants of several provinces.

Recent days have seen violent clashes between local militias that have hampered the response in Ituri, with more than 5,000 people displaced, the UN said on Thursday.

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