An outbreak of Ebola in remote Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has spread to a city, health watchdogs said Thursday, sharpening fears that the deadly virus now posed a regional threat.
The fresh outbreak, publicly declared on May 8 with 23 deaths so far, had previously been reported in a rural part of Equateur Province in the vast country's northwest.
But the DRC's health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said a case had been confirmed in Equateur's capital Mbandaka, located about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the Bikoro area where the outbreak originated.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), quoting local officials, said 514 people were believed to have been in contact with Ebola patients and were now being monitored.
Peter Salama, in charge of emergency response at the WHO, said the spread to a city complicated the fight against Ebola, which depends on identifying and isolating suspected cases.
Mbandaka's population has been variously estimated at between 700,000 and 1.2 million.
"In the past, in most of the Ebola outbreaks in DRC, it's been rural and fairly self-limited, but now we know that populations of more than a million are at risk," Salama said in Geneva.
The WHO announced it was sending 30 experts to Mbandaka, while MSF said it was sending several tonnes of medical supplies there.
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