PRETORIA, September 15. /TASS/. The number of laboratory-confirmed deaths from Ebola has eclipsed 3,500 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congolese Ministry of Communications and Media Affairs reported.

Ebola has claimed 35 lives over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 3,510, it said. The number of confirmed cases stands at 7,258, up by 22 in the past day. The case fatality rate is 48.4%.

A total of 903 patients with symptoms of the disease are being treated in hospitals and medical isolation centers. The rate of contact tracing among people infected with Ebola stands at 78.6%.

The outbreak has affected seven of the country’s 26 provinces. Ituri Province, the epicenter of the current outbreak, accounts for 78% of confirmed cases.

The Ebola outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda on May 15. It has already become the second-deadliest outbreak of the disease in Africa on record. Ugandan authorities announced on July 28 that the Ebola outbreak in the country had ended. On August 25, the World Health Organization confirmed the end of the outbreak in Uganda.

The largest Ebola outbreak occurred in West Africa in 2014-2016, affecting Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to World Health Organization data, the number of cases reached 28,600, while more than 11,000 people died. The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans by wild animals. The first recorded human case of Ebola infection occurred in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the 17th on record.