Ebola cases rising in DR Congo, but UN health agency cites progress in community trust-building.

A rise in new cases of deadly Ebola virus disease in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been announced, while authorities say that progress is being made in accessing communities that have been wary of outside help, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Latest data from 26 March, indicates a total of 1,029 confirmed and probable cases of Ebola, while 642 people have died, making the latest outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever, which is endemic in the DRC, the worst in the country's history.

More than 320 patients have recovered and been discharged from treatment centres, according to the Government's health ministry, which says that 125 new cases of infection were reported from 51 health areas in North Kivu and Ituri provinces in the past week.

Most patients came from the known virus hotspots of Katwa (36 cases) and Butembo (14), along with three emerging clusters in Mandima (19), Masereka (18) and Vuhovi (17).

All new cases have been linked to known chains of transmission, indicating that contact tracing, vaccination and isolation of carriers for treatment is working, said WHO.

Situation still 'fragile' after spate of Ebola centre attacks

'No major security incidents' have been reported in the last 10 days but the overall situation remains 'fragile', WHO says - a reference to several recent attacks on Ebola Treatment Centres by armed groups.

Attacks on Ebola Treatment Centres in Katwa and Butembo 'represented the first large-scale and organized attacks targeted directly at the Ebola response', WHO said in a statement, describing them as 'a different order of magnitude' to incidents linked to mistrust in communities, or 'dangers of being caught in crossfire between fighting parties'.

In its latest risk assessment of the outbreak, the UN health...

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