Congo traces possible Ebola spread to two new provinces, sources say

DAKAR — Congolese health authorities are tracing people who may have been exposed to Ebola in two provinces not previously affected by the latest outbreak, amid concerns that the virus could spread further, according to a health ministry report and a senior health official.

The outbreak, declared on May 15, has so far infected 1,307 people and killed 377 across the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, according to government data released on Monday.

In Tshopo province, health workers are tracing individuals who may have come into contact with the body of a pregnant woman who died of Ebola in Ituri’s Niania health zone, according to a health ministry report dated June 29 and reviewed by Reuters.

The woman fell ill on June 18 and died on June 27, the report said. Her body was transported by motorcycle roughly 300 kilometers west to Kisangani, the capital of neighboring Tshopo province. A sample taken at a morgue later tested positive for Ebola.

The report said the movement of the body through several health zones before a diagnosis was confirmed created a high risk of transmission. Authorities have since launched contact-tracing operations across the province.

Separately, a senior health official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters that two individuals identified as contacts of Ebola cases in Niania fled after being placed in isolation for testing and traveled to Haut-Uele province.

Haut-Uele, like Tshopo, borders Ituri and also shares frontiers with South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The official said one of the two individuals tested positive for Ebola, while the second was still awaiting confirmatory results. Both have since been located and are being transported back to Niania. Health teams are now tracing anyone they may have come into contact with while in Haut-Uele. -Reporting and writing by Clement Bonnerot; Editing by Jessica Donati and Daniel Wallis/Reuters