Congo checks 12 possible Ebola cases, African health body says

DAKAR (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo authorities are investigating 12 possible cases of the deadly Ebola virus in its northwest, Africa's main health body said on Thursday, though first tests had come up negative.

Congo's northeastern neighbour Uganda declared on Thursday an Ebola outbreak in the capital Kampala with one person dead.

The Congo cases under scrutiny, including seven deaths, were in Equateur province where tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the virus that causes fever, aches and diarrhoea.

Congo has had over a dozen past outbreaks of Ebola, including one in 2018-2020 that killed nearly 2,300 people, the second highest toll recorded for the hemorrhagic fever.

"I hope we'll not confirm this outbreak, because it will be a lot for this country," Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) director general Jean Kaseya told reporters of the cases being investigated in Congo.

Tests carried out in the provincial capital came back negative for Ebola, another Africa CDC official Ngashi Ngongo told Reuters, adding that authorities were waiting further testing in the capital Kinshasa.

Equateur has recorded three previous Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2022.

(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Alessandra Prentice and Andrew Cawthorne)

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