Congo health minister says Ebola outbreak under control

KINSHASA, Congo – Congo’s health minister says there have been no new confirmed cases of Ebola and the outbreak has been controlled.

Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said Friday no new cases of the deadly virus have been confirmed in the Likati zone for more than 21 days, the maximum incubation period.

However, he says experimental vaccines to fight the virus have not yet arrived. Likati is some 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) from Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.

The World Health Organization says three deaths have been blamed on the virus since it emerged May 11 in Congo’s far north. Only two have been laboratory-confirmed as Ebola.

WHO says this was the eighth outbreak in Congo since 1976. Congo has a long track record with the hemorrhagic fever.