KINSHASA, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has surpassed 7,000, with nearly 3,400 deaths reported, according to the latest government situation report released Friday.
As of Sept. 10, health authorities had recorded 7,022 confirmed cases and 3,398 deaths, putting the case fatality rate at 48.4 percent. A total of 1,671 patients have recovered.
The outbreak has now affected 62 health zones across seven provinces. Sud-Ubangi became the latest affected province after a case was confirmed there, local authorities said Thursday. The patient, a 23-year-old man with a travel history from South Kivu province, was reported dead.
Sud-Ubangi does not border any of the six provinces where confirmed Ebola cases had previously been reported, namely, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo and Bas-Uele.
The current outbreak, declared in May, has become the largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic in the DRC's history and the second-largest globally, behind the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.
