Image copyright EPA Image caption Nearly 1,400 people have died in a recent outbreak in DR Congo

The head of a major medical research charity has called the latest outbreak of Ebola in central Africa "truly frightening".

Nearly 1,400 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, said the epidemic was the worst since that of 2013-16 and has showed "no sign of stopping".

Two people have also died in neighbouring Uganda, the first cases of Ebola reported in the country.

A five-year-old boy infected with the virus died on Tuesday and his 50-year-old grandmother died on Wednesday, the Ugandan health ministry said.

The Ugandan government has reported at least six other suspected cases of the virus.

In a statement, Dr Farrar said the spread was "tragic but unfortunately not surprising". He warned that more cases were expected, and a "full" national and international response would be needed to protect lives.

"The DRC should not have to face this alone," he said.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Treating Ebola in the DR Congo warzone

What's the situation so far?

Since the first case of Ebola in DR Congo last August, nearly 1,400 people have died - around 70% of all those infected.

The outbreak is the second-largest in the history of the disease, with a significant spike in new cases in recent weeks.

Only once before has an outbreak continued to grow more than eight months after it began - that was the epidemic in West Africa between 2013-16, which killed 11,310 people.

Efforts to contain the spread have been hindered by militia group violence and by suspicion towards foreign medical assistance.

Nearly 200 health facilities have been attacked in DR Congo this year, forcing health workers to suspend or delay vaccinations and treatments. In February, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) put its activities on hold in Butembo and Katwa - two eastern cities in the outbreak's epicentre.

In Uganda, a five-year-old boy died of the virus on Tuesday, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Officials said his grandmother and younger brother also had the disease. The boy is said to have travelled across the border with his family from DR Congo on Sunday. He was then taken to a Ugandan hospital after exhibiting symptoms, including vomiting blood, officials said.

Seven other cases have been confirmed in the country, and Uganda's government said 50 people were suspected to have come into contact with those infected.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is already the second deadliest in history

Emergency measures

Analysis by James Gallagher, Health and Science Correspondent, BBC News

Cases of Ebola appearing in another country are always a significant and worrying development. The key question now is how far has the virus spread in Uganda?

Has it been contained to just the family that crossed the border from DR Congo or has it spread more widely? This is a moment that Uganda has long prepared for and, hopefully, measures such as pre-emptively vaccinating healthcare workers will lower the risk of Ebola spreading.

This outbreak is already the second largest in human history and some have predicted it could take up to two more years to bring to an end. The WHO has twice ruled that this Ebola outbreak is not a yet global emergency. Its Emergency Committee will meet again on Friday.

What is being done to prevent the spread?

In Uganda, mass gatherings including market days and prayers have been cancelled. Market days in the town of Kasese attract an estimated 20,000 people at the border area.

Uganda's health ministry and the WHO said a rapid response team had been dispatched to identify others at risk.

The country has already vaccinated about 4,700 health workers against the disease, according to a joint statement by WHO and Ugandan health officials.

On Wednesday, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he would hold an IHR Emergency Committee meeting on 14 June. The group will decide if the outbreak should now be deemed a public health emergency.

What is Ebola? </s> Ebola has broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 2013. Fully named Ebola virus disease (EVD), it crept over the DRC in an initial outbreak from 2013 to 2016 and killed more than 1,000 people. Despite intensive reworks to the West African nation’s healthcare administration, the disease still crops up. Smaller outbreaks sometimes spill over the border to neighbouring countries but are contained. Now Ebola has strayed to Uganda.

Ebola SPREADS: First case outside DR Congo emerges in Uganda

The latest confirmed case of Ebola is in a five-year-old child who crossed the border into Bwera, Uganda, near the Congolese city of Butembo on June 9.

The child’s family sought medical care in the city at the Kagando Hospital.

The child was transferred to Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit, followed by a rapid response team.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said the disease could now cause new cases to sprout over the border.

He said in a statement: “This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

“We can expect and should plan for more cases in DRC and neighbouring countries.

“The DRC should not have to face this alone.”

READ MORE: WHO warns of secret Ebola victims </s> The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo made the long-feared jump across borders with three cases confirmed Wednesday in Uganda, including the death of a 5-year-old boy who had the virus.

The World Health Organization and Ugandan health authorities said Tuesday the Congolese boy had traveled from Congo on Sunday, entered Uganda with his family and sought medical care.

The other two confirmed cases are the boy’s 3-year-old brother and his grandmother, 50. They are being treated under isolation at the Bwera Hospital Ebola Treatment Unit, in the west of Uganda, the country’s Ministry of Health said.

In a tweet Wednesday, WHO said the boy died Tuesday night.

“The young patient – 5- year-old index case of #Ebola died last night. Two more samples were sent to UVRI and have tested positive. We, therefore, have three confirmed cases of #Ebola in #Uganda,” the tweet said, referring to the Uganda Virus Research Institute.

The ministry added that eight people who had been in contact with the family were being traced.

The Congo outbreak is both the second largest and second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

More than 1,300 people have died since it began in August. The epicenter is in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, among the most populous in the Congo and bordering Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Concern had been mounting that the infectious disease would cross the border, underscored by an increase in the number of cases in recent weeks.

Pressure on WHO to declare international emergency

Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome Trust, a UK medical research charity, said that while Uganda was well-prepared to cope with the disease, global health authorities should be ready for more cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other neighboring countries.

“This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon,” he said in a statement.

“There are now more deaths than any other Ebola outbreak in history, bar the West Africa Epidemic of 2013-16, and there can be no doubt that the situation could escalate towards those terrible levels.”

Uganda’s Health Ministry said the boy and his grandmother had been vomiting blood, a severe symptom of Ebola, when they had presented themselves to doctors.

“Ebola is a horrific illness that ravages the human body,” said Brechtje van Lith, Save the Children’s country director in Uganda. “This first death, of a child, is a sickening reminder of the dangers of this disease.”

WHO is likely to come under pressure to declare the outbreak an international health emergency. In April, the health body said it did not constitute a “public health emergency of international concern.”

WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern as “an extraordinary event” that constitutes a “public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease” and “to potentially require a coordinated international response.”

Unlike the outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, there are now vaccines and experimental treatments to help stop the spread of the disease.

However, the Congo outbreak has proven difficult to bring under control because of community mistrust and violent attacks on health care workers.

“A step up in the national response with full international support is critical if we’re to contain the epidemic and ensure the very best protection for the communities at risk and for the health workers working to protect lives,” Farrar said. “This needs to be championed at the highest political levels, including at the UN and the upcoming G20.”

Uganda’s health ministry said it was vaccinating front-line health workers and people who had been in contact with the family. It said people should report any symptoms including unexplained bleeding from any body opening, vomiting of blood, bloody diarrhea and muscle pain.

It appealed to the public to “suspend social norms like shaking hands and hugging” and called on border districts to suspend mass gatherings such as weddings and markets and in places of worship. </s> Latest Ebola outbreak spreads beyond Congo for first time with two cases confirmed in Uganda

Uganda has announced two cases of Ebola — a grandmother and a three-year-old boy — confirming that a deadly outbreak has spread for the first time beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Ugandan cases show the epidemic is entering a "truly frightening" phase and could kill many more people, one infectious disease specialist said.

The World Health Organisation's emergency committee will meet on Friday to decide whether the outbreak constitutes an international emergency.

A five-year-old boy who had crossed into Uganda from Congo died late on Tuesday and his family are currently in isolation and being monitored, Uganda's Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng, said.

The two new victims were the boy's brother and grandmother, the Ugandan health ministry said.

His grandfather had recently died of Ebola.

"This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping," said Jeremy Farrar, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity, which is involved in fighting Ebola.

"We can expect and should plan for more cases in DRC and neighbouring countries," he said.

The current Ebola epidemic began in August last year in eastern Congo and has already infected at least 2,062 people, killing 1,390 of them.

The West Africa epidemic infected 28,000 people and killed 11,300, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The viral disease spreads through contact with bodily fluids, causing haemorrhagic fever with severe vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding.

Authorities have struggled to contain the disease partly because health workers have been repeatedly attacked in conflict-ravaged eastern Congo, the epicentre of the outbreak.

This year, the WHO has documented 174 attacks on health care workers and facilities in Congo, causing five deaths and 51 injuries, Geneva-based spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.

There is widespread public mistrust of the Congo Government and health workers from outside the region, giving rise to rumours that the disease is a ruse to try to rig elections in the area, where dozens of armed groups operate.

Other rumours accused health teams of spreading the disease. Many victims have sought treatment with traditional healers instead.

Uganda, which has been on high alert for a possible spread of Ebola and has already vaccinated many frontline health workers, is relatively well prepared to contain the virus.

"The current cases in Uganda will be quickly contained but the failure to stop the current Ebola epidemic in DRC is simply tragic," Ian Jones, a professor of virology at Britain's Reading University, said. </s> A FIVE-year-old boy in Uganda has died of Ebola in the first cross-border case during the current outbreak, a health official said.

The youngster was being treated in an isolated unit after testing positive for the killer virus on Monday but passed away last night.

The World Health Organisation said two more people have since tested positive for the Ebola virus.

Ugandan authorities said the two new cases are his three-year-old brother and 50-year-old grandmother, who have been isolated at a hospital near the border.

These are the first cross-border cases in the country since an outbreak started in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo last year.

There have been more than 2,000 confirmed and probable cases in Congo since August, with nearly 1,400 deaths.

The boy is said to have travelled across the border with four family members, including his mother and father, on Monday.

They had returned to Congo to see his maternal grandfather before he died of Ebola, Uganda's Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said.

He was taken to hospital near the border in Uganda after he started showing symptoms, including vomiting blood, officials said.

The diagnosis of Ebola was confirmed by the Uganda Virus Institute (UVRI) yesterday.

A rapid response team was sent to identify other people who may be at risk, the WHO said.

The boy's Congolese grandmother, who travelled to Uganda with the rest of the family, is sick although Ebola test results are yet to come in, it's reported.

Congo's health ministry said a dozen members of the boy's family had showed symptoms of Ebola and were put in isolation.

But six managed to leave while awaiting transfer to an Ebola treatment centre.

Officials claim the Congolese family likely did not pass through official border points, where health workers screen all travellers for a high temperature and isolate those who show signs of illness.

Henry Mwebesa, the national director of health services, said the child's mother, who is married to a Ugandan, "knows where to pass. She does not have to go through the official border points."

Experts have long feared Ebola could spread to neighbouring countries because of rebel attacks and community resistance hampering virus containment work in eastern Congo, one of the world's most turbulent regions.

The virus can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90 per cent of cases.

But Mr Mwebesa said Ugandan health teams "are not panicking," adding: "We have all the contingencies to contain this case. It is not going to go beyond the patient's family."

Since the epidemic began in August in eastern Congo, the Congo health ministry said on Monday that it had recorded 2,062 cases including 1,390 deaths.

Uganda has suffered regular outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg over the years, both high-fatality viral haemorrhagic fevers, and health facilities to treat the diseases are relatively robust for the region.

But Uganda is more stable than eastern Congo, and for the first time an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine is being widely used.

Uganda has vaccinated nearly 4,700 health workers so far.

But Ebola has been especially feared in Uganda, where multiple outbreaks have occurred over the years.

What is Ebola and where did it come from? The Ebola virus disease - previously called Ebola haemorrhagic fever - is a viral infection that occurs in humans and primates. The virus is part of the Filoviridae family, which also includes Marburg virus. It was first detected in regions close to the River Ebola, which gave the disease its name. To date, scientists have identified five strains of Ebola - four of which are known to cause disease in humans. The natural reservoir - or host of the virus - is thought to be the fruit bat. Non-human primates are a secondary host, and like humans develop fatal symptoms, so are unlikely to be the reservoir. In spite of the epidemic that swept West Africa from 2013 to 2015, scientists class Ebola as a virus that has a relatively low infection rate. During that, the most recent and widespread outbreak, one Ebola patient would typically pass the disease on to another two people. That is compared with a disease like measles where one case can often lead to 18 new infections. The Ebola virus was first identified by a team of scientists in what was then called Zaire, now known as Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1976. Until the last outbreak, the most widespread and deadliest ever, records show regular bursts of Ebola virus did occur. However, they tended to be confined to villages close to rainforests in Central and West Africa. Infection has been recorded in humans through contact with infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines.

An outbreak in the north in 2000 infected 425 people and killed more than half of them.

The announcement of the first cross-border case puts new pressure on WHO to declare the Ebola outbreak a global health emergency.

A WHO expert committee has twice decided that the outbreak, while of "deep concern," is not yet a global health emergency .

Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome, said: “This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

"There are now more deaths than any other Ebola outbreak in history, bar the West Africa Epidemic of 2013-16, and there can be no doubt that the situation could escalate towards those terrible levels.

“A step up in the national response with full international support is critical if we’re to contain the epidemic and ensure the very best protection for the communities at risk and for the health workers working to protect lives."

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. </s> The World Health Organization announced an emergency committee would meet Friday to determine whether to upgrade its assessment of the situation to “a public health emergency of international concern”.

WHO, in October and again in April, held off declaring the DRC epidemic an emergency of international concern, because the outbreak was contained to one part of DRC.

For the committee to make the emergency call, it must determine that the epidemic “carries implications for public health beyond the affected State’s national border and may require immediate international action”.

If such a declaration is made Friday it will represent a major shift in mobilisation against the disease.

The current Ebola epidemic began in August last year in eastern Congo and has already infected at least 2,062 people, killing 1,390 of them.

“This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon,” said Jeremy Farrar, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity which is involved in fighting Ebola.

“We can expect and should plan for more cases in DRC and neighbouring countries,” he said, adding: “There are now more deaths than any other Ebola outbreak in history, bar the West Africa Epidemic of 2013-16, and there can be no doubt that the situation could escalate towards those terrible levels.”

The Red Cross said it was scaling up efforts to contain the spread of the virus since it was detected in Uganda.

“This is a worrying development, but we have been preparing for this day for months now,” Robert Kwesiga, Uganda Red Cross Secretary General, said in a statement Wednesday.

Experts noted that Uganda, which has been on high alert for possible spread of Ebola and has already vaccinated many frontline healthworkers, is relatively well prepared and should be able to limit the virus’ spread.

“The current cases in Uganda will be quickly contained but the failure to stop the current Ebola epidemic in DRC is simply tragic,” said Ian Jones, a professor virology at Britain’s Reading University.

At least two people have so far died of Ebola in Uganda, following Tuesday’s confirmation that the deadly virus had crossed into the country.

The five-year-old Congolese child who was the first recorded case in Uganda and its grandmother have both succumbed to the virus, at Bwere General Hospital, where an isolation facility has been established.

Authorities are now worried about the spread of the epidemic, after mire cases were confirmed on Wednesday.

“Two more samples … have tested positive,” the World Health Organization agency said on Twitter, citing the health minister and bringing the total tally of confirmed cases to three.

Local news channel, Daily Monitor, said Ebola cases in the country have risen to 10, citing the country’s health minister Dr. Ruth Aceng who said there are seven more suspects, including two men, two women and a six-months-old baby, who came from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A case of Ebola has been confirmed in Uganda, ten months after the deadly virus was confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 5-year-old Congolese child, who entered Uganda on June 9 through Bwera Border post, is receiving care, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

“This is the first confirmed case in Uganda during the Ebola outbreak on-going in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the WHO said in a statement.

The child’s family sought medical care at Kagando hospital and the child was transferred to Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit for management, the WHO said.

“The confirmation was made today by the Uganda Virus Institute (UVRI) …contacts are being monitored,” WHO said.

How the Ebola victim came to Uganda

The boy was accompanied by his Ugandan father and Congolese mother, who had returned to Congo to nurse her father before he died of Ebola, Uganda’s Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng told a news conference.

The family returned to Uganda with four other family members of Congolese origin, Aceng said. All the other Congolese family members are in isolation at Bwera Hospital. Two of them have already developed symptoms similar to those of Ebola and samples have been removed from them, Aceng said.

Results of tests are expected Wednesday. Eight more contacts are being followed up, Aceng said.

Aceng said the family entered Uganda on June 10, not 9. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear and neither the WHO nor the government was reachable for clarification.

Since the epidemic began in August in eastern Congo, the Congo health ministry said on Monday that it had recorded 2,062 cases, including 1,390 deaths.

Neighbouring Uganda has suffered regular outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg over the years, both high-fatality viral haemorrhagic fevers. Health facilities to treat the diseases are relatively robust.

A donor-supported laboratory in Entebbe, a lakeside town south of the capital Kampala, means Uganda typically confirms outbreaks much faster than many of its neighbours.

Preparing for possible cases of Ebola, Uganda has vaccinated nearly 4,700 health workers, disease monitoring has been intensified, special treatment units set up and health workers have been trained to recognize symptoms of the disease, WHO said.

Uganda’s worst Ebola outbreak was in 2000 when 425 people were infected. More than half of them died. </s> BENI, Congo (AP) — A 5-year-old boy vomiting blood has become the first cross-border case of Ebola in the current deadly outbreak. Now authorities are trying to determine how his family, exposed to the virus, managed to cross from Congo into neighboring Uganda.

The World Health Organization late Tuesday confirmed the first Ebola case outside Congo since the outbreak began in August. Nearly 1,400 people have died in what has become the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

Congo's health ministry said a dozen members of the boy's family had showed symptoms of Ebola and were put in isolation. But six managed to leave while awaiting transfer to an Ebola treatment center. They crossed into Uganda, where the boy has been receiving treatment and relatives are isolated.

Experts have long feared Ebola could spread to neighboring countries because of rebel attacks and community resistance hampering virus containment work in eastern Congo, one of the world's most turbulent regions. The virus can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90% of cases.

Ugandan health teams "are not panicking," Henry Mwebesa, a physician and the national director of health services, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. He cited the country's experience battling previous outbreaks of Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers.

"We have all the contingencies to contain this case," Mwebesa said. "It is not going to go beyond" the patient's family. Two family members were being tested for Ebola after developing symptoms, with results expected on Wednesday.

The Congolese family likely did not pass through official border points, where health workers screen all travelers for a high temperature and isolate those who show signs of illness.

The child's mother, who is married to a Ugandan, "knows where to pass. She does not have to go through the official border points," Mwebesa said.

The boy's Congolese grandmother, who traveled to Uganda with the rest of the family, is sick although Ebola test results are yet to come in, he said, speaking from Kasese, a district near the Congo border where the family is being treated.

Uganda is more stable than eastern Congo, and for the first time an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine is being widely used, with more than 130,000 doses distributed. Uganda has vaccinated nearly 4,700 health workers so far.

But Ebola has been especially feared in Uganda, where multiple outbreaks have occurred over the years. An outbreak in the north in 2000 infected 425 people and killed more than half of them.

The announcement of the first cross-border case puts new pressure on WHO to declare the Ebola outbreak a global health emergency. A WHO expert committee has twice decided that the outbreak, while of "deep concern," is not yet a global health emergency .

But international spread is one of the major criteria the United Nations agency considers before such a declaration. Millions have travelers along Congo's border with Uganda and Rwanda have been screened for Ebola since the outbreak began. WHO has advised against travel restrictions.

The news of a first cross-border case is "tragic but unfortunately not surprising," said Dr. Jeremy Farrar with the Wellcome Trust, which is funding vaccine research in this outbreak. While Uganda is well-prepared with established surveillance, "we can expect and should plan for more cases in (Congo) and neighboring countries. This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon." </s> A 50-year-old woman has become the second Ebola patient to die in Uganda after the killer virus spread from the Congo.

The grandmother fell victim alongside her grandson who was the first fatality on June 11, as experts warn the spread is 'truly frightening'.

Public gatherings have been banned in Kasese, a district in western Uganda close to the DRC border, where the woman and the boy will be buried.

It comes after the health ministry announced Wednesday that Uganda had recorded three cases of Ebola infection in the first known cross-border spread.

All three were from a single family that travelled to DRC to care for a relative, who also died of Ebola, before returning to Uganda.

Neighboring countries, including Uganda, have been on high alert since the second worst outbreak in history began in eastern DRC last August.

More than 2,000 cases of Ebola have been recorded in the north-eastern part of the DRC, two-thirds of which have been fatal.

A health official told AFP on a condition of anonymity: 'The deceased has been confirmed as the grandmother of the five-year-old boy who died. Both victims had attended the burial of an Ebola patient in Congo, but returned to Uganda.'

The third confirmed case, the five-year-old's three-year-old brother, is believed to still be in quarantine in a hospital in Bwera ETU, an Ebola treatment unit.

Eight others who had been in contact with them were also being monitored there.

The family, including the boys' mother, were from the DRC and had reportedly travelled across the border to see a family member which the WHO confirmed died of Ebola.

While returning to Uganda, the group including several other children was stopped at a Congo's Kasindi border post.



Congo's health ministry said the boy was reportedly vomiting blood and a dozen of his family members appeared to have symptoms.

They were planned to be transferred to an Ebola treatment unit in Beni, in Congo.

But six family members slipped away and crossed into Uganda on an unguarded footpath, authorities told The Associated Press.

Authorities in both countries now vow to step up border security.

Congolese Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said as soon as the family crossed into Uganda, they alerted the authorities about the potential Ebola spread.

Ugandan officials found the family members at the Kagando hospital, where the boy's Ebola case was confirmed. They were then transferred to Bwera, it is believed.

Uganda has now identified seven suspected Ebola cases, and about 50 contacts of the family are being traced there.

Five family members who did not cross into Uganda have tested positive for Ebola, Congo's health ministry said.

On Wednesday, an official told AFP the boy who tested positive for Ebola in Kasese died in the isolation unit.

'The minister for health (Ruth Aceng) will be briefing the country about the death of the boy and arrangements to bury the body', the official, on condition on anonymity, added.

The child was buried on Wednesday in Kasese, in the west of Uganda, according to health ministry spokeswoman Emma Ainebyoona.

Ms Aceng said: 'We have three cases of Ebola confirmed. Unfortunately, we lost the boy who was first tested and was found positive.'

The infected family members and frontline health workers in Uganda are due to be vaccinated Friday with a new drug designed to protect them against the virus, the health ministry said.

East Africa has been on high alert since the outbreak was declared in the eastern DRC provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.

The World Health Organization is under pressure to declare the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern'.

They health body said it did not constitute as one in April, but are meeting again Friday to reassess. It would be a major shift in the level of attention devoted internationally to combating the disease.

Official figures show the death toll in the African nation now stands at 1,396, with half of the fatalities having occurred since April.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: 'News of an Ebola case confirmed in Uganda is tragic but unfortunately not surprising.

'Uganda is very well prepared, has established surveillance and given the Merck vaccine to health care workers, but we can expect and should plan for more cases in DRC and neighbouring countries.

'This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. There are now more deaths than any other Ebola outbreak in history, bar the West Africa Epidemic of 2013-16, and there can be no doubt that the situation could escalate towards those terrible levels.'

WHAT CLASSES AS AN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH EMERGENCY? The World Health Organization has only invoked a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) four times in the past, according to The Telegraph. These were during the last major Ebola outbreak in 2014, the Swine flu outbreak in 2009, a resurgence of Polio in 2014, and the Zika outbreak in South America in 2016. WHO's Emergency Committee must convene to decide on the seriousness of a disease outbreak and the threat it poses to other countries before declaring a PHEIC. These are the incidents it has deemed serious enough in the past: In 2009 'Swine flu' was identified for the first time in Mexico and was named because it is a similar virus to one which affects pigs. The outbreak is believed to have killed as many as 575,400 people – the H1N1 strain is now just accepted as normal seasonal flu. Poliovirus began to resurface in countries where it had once been eradicated, and the WHO called for a widespread vaccination programme to stop it spreading. Cameroon, Pakistan and Syria were most at risk of spreading the illness internationally. Ebola killed at least 11,000 people across the world after it spread like wildfire through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014, 2015 and 2016. More than 28,000 people were infected in what was the worst ever outbreak of the disease. Zika, a tropical disease which can cause serious birth defects if it infects pregnant women, was the subject of an outbreak in Brazil's capital, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016. There were fears that year's Olympic Games would have to be cancelled after more than 200 academics wrote to the World Health Organization warning about it.

It is not clear exactly how the family members were able to cross the border, where millions have travelers have been screened for Ebola since the outbreak began.

Ugandan health teams 'are not panicking,' Henry Mwebesa, a physician and the national director of health services, told The Associated Press.

He cited the country's experience battling previous outbreaks of Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers.

'We have all the contingencies to contain this case,' Mr Mwebesa said. 'It is not going to go beyond' the patient's family.

The family likely did not pass through official border points, where all travelers are screened for a high temperature and isolated if they show signs of illness.

The child's mother, who is married to a Ugandan, 'knows where to pass,' Mr Mwebesa said, adding. 'she does not have to go through the official border points'.

Rwanda, which borders both countries, has announced it is tightening border surveillance.

In April, an expert committee of the WHO decided that DR Congo’s outbreak, while of ‘deep concern’, was not yet a global health emergency.

International spread of a disease is one of the major criteria WHO considers before declaring a situation to be a global health emergency.

The WHO says an expert committee has been alerted for a possible meeting to discuss whether to declare the Ebola outbreak a global health emergency.

Uganda has had multiple outbreaks of Ebola - considered one of the most lethal pathogens in existence - since 2000.

The outbreak in the DRC only appears to be getting worse – week-by-week infection rates are far higher than at any time before March.

Attacks from armed rebels – some believed to be linked to Islamic State – are slowing down the response and risking the lives of locals and aid workers.

Armed militiamen reportedly believe Ebola is a conspiracy against them and have repeatedly attacked health workers battling the epidemic.

There have been more than 120 attacks this year against aid workers, with eighty-five being wounded or killed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Ebola killed 11,000 people and ravaged West Africa during an epidemic between 2014-15. One case was detected in Spain, Italy and the UK, respectively.

The DRC declared its tenth ever outbreak of Ebola last August in northeastern North Kivu province.

The killer virus, which causes fevers, uncontrollable bleeding and organ failure, quickly spread into the neighbouring Ituri region. </s> (KASINDI, Congo) — A 5-year-old boy vomiting blood became the first cross-border victim of Ebola in the current outbreak on Wednesday, while two more people in Uganda tested positive for the highly contagious disease that has killed nearly 1,400 in Congo.

The boy, part of a Congolese family who crossed into Uganda earlier in the week, died overnight, the World Health Organization said. Ugandan authorities said the two new cases are his 3-year-old brother and 50-year-old grandmother, who have been isolated at a hospital near the border. Uganda now has three confirmed Ebola cases.

Authorities tried to determine how the family, exposed to the virus via a sick relative in Congo, managed to cross a border where health officials have been screening millions of travelers for months.

This has become the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history since the first cases were declared in August. A WHO expert committee has been alerted for a possible meeting on whether to declare a global health emergency now that the outbreak has crossed the border, a spokesman said.

Experts have long feared Ebola could spread to neighboring countries because of rebel attacks and community resistance hampering virus containment work in eastern Congo, one of the world’s most turbulent regions. The virus can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90% of cases.

Congo’s health ministry said a dozen members of the boy’s family had showed symptoms of Ebola. They were not placed in isolation and instead were told to remain where they were staying until transport was found to an Ebola treatment unit in Beni, Dr. Dominique Kabongo, coordinator of Ebola response teams in Kasindi, told The Associated Press.

Instead half of the family quietly crossed into Uganda, while five of those who remained have tested positive for Ebola since being taken to Beni, the health ministry said.

“Many people are evading (border) customs and using small footpaths and it is difficult for us to follow the contacts,” Kabongo said.

In Uganda, where authorities had been alerted by Congolese colleagues, the boy received treatment while relatives were isolated and tested. The boy’s uncle is now among seven suspected Ebola cases in Uganda, Health Minister Jane Aceng said, adding that authorities on both sides of the border would do their best to close unauthorized crossings.

Ugandan health teams “are not panicking,” Henry Mwebesa, the national director of health services, told the AP. He cited the East African nation’s experience battling previous outbreaks of Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers.

“We have all the contingencies to contain this case,” Mwebesa said. “It is not going to go beyond” the boy’s family. The child’s mother, who is married to a Ugandan, knew where to cross the border unofficially, he added.

In the border area where the family is thought to have crossed, surveillance teams patrolled the Ugandan side on Wednesday. Some footpaths, however, remained unguarded. Some people wade across the shallow Lubiriha River instead of using a bridge to avoid being stopped by officials.

The “stubbornness of Congolese here” is a challenge in screening, a Ugandan Red Cross official, Francis Tumwine, told the AP at one border crossing last week. “They have failed to understand that Ebola is there, they think that it is witchcraft which is killing them.”

A Congolese trader, Muhindo Kaongezekela, added: “We are not sure if there’s Ebola in Congo. In Congo, if they find you with a headache, they take you to the hospital and later say they died of Ebola.”

This is the first time this restive part of vast Congo, veteran of several Ebola outbreaks, has experienced the virus.

Uganda is more stable than eastern Congo, and for the first time an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine is being widely used, with more than 130,000 doses distributed. Uganda has vaccinated nearly 4,700 health workers, and WHO is shipping another 3,500 doses this week for health workers and contacts of those infected.

But Ebola has been especially feared in Uganda, where multiple outbreaks have occurred over the years. An outbreak in the north in 2000 infected 425 people and killed more than half of them.

The WHO expert committee has twice decided that the current outbreak, while of “deep concern,” is not yet a global health emergency. But international spread is one of the major criteria the United Nations agency considers before making a declaration. WHO has advised against travel restrictions.

The first cross-border case is “tragic but unfortunately not surprising,” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar with the Wellcome Trust, which funds Ebola vaccine research.

While Uganda is well-prepared, he added, “we can expect and should plan for more cases in (Congo) and neighboring countries. This epidemic is in a truly frightening phase and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.”
Wellcome Trust director Dr. Jeremy Farrar says the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has killed 1,400 people since August 2018, is the worst since the 2013–2016 outbreak in West Africa and shows "no sign of stopping". Uganda reported its first two deaths.