The Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Saturday that the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the country had risen to 710, while 139 deaths have been recorded.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) jointly launched a $518 million, six-month emergency response plan to combat the Ebola outbreak.

Congolese health authorities had yesterday reported 17 new confirmed cases during the past 24 hours, all recorded in Ituri Province, the primary epicentre of the outbreak.

Meanwhile experts advising the Africa CDC have called for stronger cross-border preparedness in Africa to reduce the risk of imported cases from the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda.

The recommendations were made at a meeting of leading African infectious diseases experts, who are members of the Africa CDC Emergency Consultative Group (ECG), an independent advisory body to the Africa CDC Director General, held early this month.

As of June 11, Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases including two deaths, as well as one probable case who has died.

In Uganda, WHO authorities said the outbreak remains epidemiologically linked to transmission originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with evidence of both imported infections and secondary transmission among contacts and healthcare workers. 

Uganda has not reported any new cases in the past six days. National authorities in the two affected countries, in collaboration with WHO and partners, are implementing a comprehensive package of response measures. A regional preparedness and prioritization framework continues to guide readiness activities across the African Region.