Almost 1,400 people have died from the Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since last August, the country's Health Ministry said, Trend reported citing Sputnik.
"The situation on Monday, June 10, 2019: a total of 2,062 cases (1,968 confirmed and 94 probable), 1,390 deaths and 569 cured persons," the ministry said on Twitter.
The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and is estimated by the World Health Organization to have a 50-percent fatality rate. Ebola is named after the DRC's Ebola River, near which the virus was discovered by Belgian microbiologist Peter Piot and his team in 1976.
The largest Ebola outbreak took place in West Africa in 2014-2015, with more than 11,000 people having died and some 28,000 cases have been reported.