Health

Africa's latest outbreak of Ebola has passed 10,000 confirmed cases, the vast majority of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese health authorities said on Tuesday. According to the DRC's figures, 10,060 people have been infected and 4,887 have died since the virus was first detected in May in the vast central African country's deadliest outbreak in its history. Cases have likewise been detected in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, with the World Health Organization warning that Africa faces a "complex" task to contain an outbreak spanning the east, west and centre of the continent. Among the many challenges facing the response is the lack of any approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the epidemic. Read moreNigeria records first Ebola case...

Nigeria said Tuesday it had recorded its first Ebola case of Africa's latest outbreak, as Kenya declared its ninth case, prompting a regional health official to warn of "an extremely serious threat". The case in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, was detected in a woman who had travelled from Uganda to the capital Abuja, the government confirmed. Since a major Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May, the deadly viral haemorrhagic fever has spread to several countries across the continent, including neighbouring Uganda. Kenya's health ministry meanwhile reported its ninth Ebola case of the outbreak on Tuesday. "This Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak has already become the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history, affecting multiple countries acro...