The health authorities said on Friday people should avoid non-essential travel to areas in Congo where cases of ebola have been confirmed.

A new case of ebola has been confirmed in Wangata, an urban area of the DRC. Until now, all the confirmed ebola cases had been from the Bikoro zone, which, although also in the Equateur Province, were at a distance of nearly 150 km from Mbandaka.

The World Health Organisation said the arrival of ebola in an urban area was very concerning and action was ongoing by the WHO and partners to scale up the search for all contacts of the confirmed case in the Mbandaka area.

The Maltese authorities said that if travel to the affected areas was unavoidable, one should:

• Avoid direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of a patient or a corpse and with possibly contaminated objects;
• Avoid close contact with wild animals and consumption of ‘bush meat’;
• Avoid having unprotected sexual intercourse;
• Practice careful hygiene.

Anyone who was in the affected areas should contact the Public Health Authorities on 2132 4086 at the first sign of illness - fever, headache, aches, sore throat, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain, rash, red eyes, and in some cases, bleeding - if this is within 21 days of departure from the country.

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