Ebola death toll in DR Congo climbs to 496

DAKAR, Senegal

At least 496 people have died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the start of an outbreak in late July last year, the country’s Health Ministry said on Monday.

Among 894 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, 829 were confirmed to be Ebola cases, the ministry said.

A total of 31 people are still getting treatments for the disease, while 302 have recovered from the virus in the Central African country.

Some 65 people died following hemorrhagic fever, but it could not be verified whether they died of Ebola.

A total of 85,226 people were administered anti-Ebola vaccines in the country as part of a campaign that began on Aug. 8.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.

Ebola caused global alarm in 2014 when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Writing By Faruk Zorlu