KINSHASA: A woman contracted Ebola and died last week in a new case of the virus detected in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo near the city of Butembo, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The woman was found with symptoms of the virus in the town of Biena on Feb 1 and died in hospital in Butembo on Feb 3.

She was married to a man who had contracted the virus in a previous outbreak. It was not yet clear if the case marks the start of a new outbreak or if it represents a manageable flare-up from an outbreak in the region that killed over 2,200 people between 2018 and 2020, the second-most in the disease’s history.

“The provincial response team is already hard at work. It will be supported by the national response team which will visit Butembo shortly,” the ministry said in a statement.

More than 70 people who came into contact with the dead woman have been tracked and the places she visited are being disinfected, said the World Health Organisation, which is helping with the response.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2021