Maltese health authorities have issued a travel warning after at least two people tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Congolese health authorities had already reported 21 patients showing signs of hemorrhagic fever and 17 deaths in the affected area before an Ebola outbreak was confirmed on Tuesday.

Bikoro is situated in Equateur Province on the shores of Lake Tumba in the North-western part of the country near the Republic of the Congo.

Following advice from the World Health Organisation and EU's Health Security Committee, Malta's Superintendence of Public Health has now advised the public to avoid all nonessential travel to the Bikoro area of the DRC. 

Anyone who cannot avoid travel to the area should avoid direct contact with blood or bodily fluids, close contact with wild animals, consumption of bush meat and unprotected sex. 

People who have stayed in the Bikoro area should contact public health authorities on 2132 4086 at the first sign of illness, if this occurs within 21 days of departure from the country. 

Ebola is endemic to the DRC, with the last outbreak reported last year. It is not transmitted through breathing air from an infected person, and casual contacts in public places with people who do not appear to be sick does not lead to infection. Transmission requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected living or dead persons or animals. 

A person who is infected is only able to spread the virus to others after the infected person has started to have symptoms.