The World Health Organisation has identified two more suspected cases of the deadly Ebola virus a day after declaring a confirmed outbreak in Congo.

As the number of suspected cases rose to 11, including three reported deaths, the UN agency dispatched medical teams, epidemiologists and public health workers to the afflicted area.

WHO believes the first victim was a man who displayed symptoms on or around April 22 in Bas-Uele province in the country’s far north, some 1400km from the capital, Kinshasa.

“It is in a very remote zone, very forested, so we are a little lucky,” WHO Congo spokesman Eric Kabambi told the BBC. “We always take this very seriously.”

Congo has had seven known Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2014 with several dozen cases. That outbreak was not connected to the massive epidemic which swept through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and left thousands dead.

The country has been widely hailed for setting the standard for combatting the disease and is regarded by WHO and aid organisations as a well-organised example to other African nations of how to monitor outbreaks and combat them.
-with AAP