EBOLA OUTBREAK: Killer disease WARNING as fresh cases discovered - 'We need calm'

The health ministry said four cases of the virus have been confirmed, while 20 deaths from hemorrhagic fever in and around Mangina, a densely populated town 30km southwest of the city of Beni and 100km from the Ugandan border have also been recorded. 

A team of 12 experts from the health ministry will arrive in Beni on Thursday to set up a mobile lab.

Julien Paluku wrote on Twitter: "Ebola virus conformed in North Kivu province.

"The Minister of Health just announced it after confirmation of the analysis at the INRB (Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale).

"I call for calm and prudence."

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet that it has started moving staff and supplies to the affected area. 

He said: "Ebola is a constant threat in DRC. What adds to our confidence in the country's ability to respond is the transparency they have displayed once again.

"We will fight this one as we did the last.”

On Monday, health ministry said it had foound 25 cases of fever near the town of Beni and that samples had been sent to the capital Kinshasa for testing.  

It added that there is no evidence that the new Ebola cases are linked to a previous outbreak, which began in April and occurred over 2,500 kilometres away. 

Last week, DR Congo confirmed the end of a separate outbreak that killed 33 people in the northwest. 

Congolese and international health officials deployed an experimental vaccine that helped contain its spread after it reached a large river port city.

In May, international experts said there has been a massive change in the urgency of the Congolese government to highlight the risks of the virus spreading, which was downplayed during the 2014 Western African epidemic.

Protection were distributed to local hospitals and traveller screening commenced, even before the first cases of the contagious virus were confirmed by health officials.

DR Congo health minister Oly Ilunga had said: "The government knew this outbreak presented a higher risk than last year's (smaller) outbreak due to the fact the health workers were among the first victims.

"All the major international organisations have worked in better alignment with the government's Ebola response plan."

This is the central African country's 10th Ebola outbreak since 1976, when the virus was discovered near the eponymous river in the north.

Ebola, believed to be spread over long distances by bats, causes hemorrhagic fever, vomiting and diarrhea. 

It is spread through direct contact with body fluids, and often spreads to humans via infected bush meat.

Between 2013 and 2016, an ebola outbreak concentrated in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea killed at least 11,300 people.