PRETORIA, June 20. /TASS/. The number of confirmed deaths caused by the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to 245, the country’s Public Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told reporters in Bunia, the administrative center of the hardest-hit Ituri province.

"The current epidemiological situation is as follows: in all, there have been 933 confirmed cases, including 245 registered deaths," the Congolese Press Agency (ACP) quoted him as saying. "Mortality is 26%. A total of 416 people have been hospitalized, while 80 have already recovered and have been discharged from hospitals."

The minister noted progress in the effort to contain the outbreak. In his words, the detection of cases has improved, and people’s trust in the healthcare system is growing.

The current Ebola outbreak began in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on May 15. Ebola cases and deaths have also been reported from neighboring Uganda.