THE Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has claimed 164 lives, said health authorities.

Authorities earlier this month said they are facing a “second wave” of the outbreak centred in Beni, a town in North Kivu near the border with Uganda.

The epicentre had earlier been focused on Mangina, a town around 20km from Beni.

In total, 257 cases have been recorded in the region – 222 confirmed and 35 probable – since the start of the outbreak at the beginning of August, said the Congolese Health Ministry in a bulletin.

On October 17, the World Health Organisation said the death toll stood at 139, but added that the outbreak did not yet merit being labelled a global health emergency.

The second wave of the deadly virus has been attributed to community resistance to measures already taken to tackle the disease.

On Thursday, some 1,000 students marched through the streets of Beni to launch a campaign to fight Ebola.

Since a vaccination programme began on August 8, more than 22,000 people have been inoculated, of whom 11,000 were in Beni, said the Health Ministry.

An Ebola treatment centre in the city now has more than 60 beds, it said.

The latest outbreak is the 10th in DR Congo since Ebola was first detected in the country in 1976. – AFP, October 28, 2018.