Congo's Ebola outbreak declared 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern' by WHO

Kinshasa, July 18 -- : The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), calling on countries to "take notice and redouble...efforts."

"The #Ebola outbreak in #DRC constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, citing concerning the geographical expansion of the virus," WHO tweeted while quoting its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

More than 2,500 cases of Ebola have been reported in DRC, out of which nearly 1,670 people have died in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, according to WHO records.

A PHEIC is defined as, "an extraordinary event which is determined to const...