A NEW Ebola outbreak has been declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after a man died of the disease.

The 31-year-old man died in the city of Mbandaka, according to the National Institute of Biomedical Research.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the patient began experiencing symptoms on 5 April but was only admitted to an Ebola treatment centre on 21 April.

WHO representatives and local authorities are now desperately trying to trace those who might have come into contact with the man to try and halt the spread of the deadly disease.

“Time is not on our side,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa.

“The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up.

“The positive news is that health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have more experience than anyone else in the world at controlling Ebola outbreaks quickly.”

A special ‘ring vaccination’ strategy—where contacts and contacts of contacts are vaccinated to curb the spread of the virus and protect lives, will be implemented in the coming days, the WHO said in a statement.

“Many people in Mbandaka are already vaccinated against Ebola, which should help reduce the impact of the disease,” said Dr Moeti. “All those who were vaccinated during the 2020 outbreak will be revaccinated.”

The DRC is experiencing its fourteenth Ebola outbreaks since 1976.

The current outbreak is the sixth since 2018 alone – the most frequent occurrence in the country’s Ebola history.

Previous outbreaks in Equateur Province were in 2020 and 2018, with 130 and 54 recorded cases respectively.

The DRC only declared the end of its last outbreak of Ebola in December.

Efforts to stem the current outbreak are already underway.