PRETORIA, August 31. /TASS/. The number of laboratory-confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) stands at 6,041, an increase of 96 over the past 24 hours, the Communications and Media Ministry reported.

The death toll from Ebola during the current outbreak stands at 2,911. Over the past 24 hours, 49 people have died. The case fatality rate is 48.2%.

Currently, there are 619 individuals exhibiting symptoms of the disease in hospitals and medical isolation facilities. The contact tracing rate for individuals infected with Ebola is 82.4%.

The outbreak began on May 15 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda and has already become the second deadliest in the history of Ebola surveillance in Africa. The disease has now been reported in six Congolese provinces, with the epicenter located in Ituri Province. On July 28, Ugandan authorities announced the end of the Ebola outbreak in their country. On August 25, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak's end in Uganda.

This outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo ebolavirus, for which a vaccine is still in the clinical trial stage. Last week, the DRC began vaccinating at-risk groups with a vaccine that has proven effective against another Ebola pathogen, the Zaire ebolavirus.

The largest Ebola outbreak occurred in West Africa from 2014 to 2016, affecting Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. At that time, the death toll exceeded 11,000. The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals. The first recorded case of human Ebola infection occurred in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC is the 17th on record.