The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibujo Ebola virus, a public health emergency of international concern.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
According to the organization, the decision was made due to the cross-border spread of the infection, the emergence of new disease clusters with unidentified chains of transmission, as well as significant uncertainty about the real scale of the epidemic.
Cases of the disease have already been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, particularly in the capital Kampala and Kinshasa, indicating that the virus has spread beyond its original focus in remote areas.
Official figures show eight laboratory-confirmed cases, hundreds of suspected infections and dozens of deaths in Ituri province. At least two cases, one fatal, have been confirmed in Uganda.
Of particular concern to health officials is that the Bundibujo Ebola strain is one of the rarest and has limited research. There are currently no approved vaccines or specific therapies for it, making it difficult to contain the outbreak.
The WHO has warned that the scale of the outbreak could be greater than official figures suggest, as there are signs of undiagnosed transmission in several regions. It has urged countries in the region to step up surveillance, testing and infection control.
The WHO also stated that it does not recommend the introduction of general bans on travel or trade, but instead emphasized the need for international coordination and rapid response.
Additional data is currently being collected on the extent of the outbreak and effective methods for containing the infection.