According to local authorities, the epidemic is spreading from Mbdanka to surrounding villages along the Congo River, some of which can only be reached by off-road vehicle or canoe.
The announcement comes less than a month after the authorities announced that the Ebola outbreak in the eastern parts of the country is over. More than 2,000 people lost their lives in the infection that ravaged for almost two years.
According to the World Health Organization, there is no link between the epidemics in northwestern and eastern Congo-Kinshasa. The country has had eleven outbreaks of Ebola since the infection was established in 1976.
Ebola is caused by a virus that is highly contagious and is spread, among other things, through direct contact with body fluids. The disease can cause bleeding that is often life-threatening.