The Democratic Republic of Congo has declared an end to the latest Ebola outbreak that killed six people in its east.

DR Congo’s Minister of Public Health, Dr Jean-Jacques Mbungani on Monday announced the end of the outbreak that began on February 7 in the town of Butembo in the North Kivu province.

The World Health Organisation also confirmed the end to the outbreak, congratulating the country on combatting it within three months.

There were 12 cases of Ebola, with six deaths and six recoveries in four health zones in the North Kivu province, according to WHO.

The last two patients had been discharged from the Ebola Treatment Centre of Katwa in Butembo on March 24.

This was the 12th Ebola outbreak in conflict-ridden DR Congo since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976 and the third to hit the country in less than a year.

Its onset came less than three months after DR Congo’s 11th outbreak in the western province of Equateur officially ended in November.

A 2018 outbreak in the country’s east was the second deadliest in the world, killing 2299 people before it was ended in June.

That outbreak lasted for nearly two years and was fought amid unprecedented challenges including entrenched conflict between armed groups, the world’s largest measles epidemic and the spread of COVID-19.

-AAP