The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo may already have spread beyond the country’s borders and into other provinces.

WHO representative, Anne Ancia, said investigations into the outbreak were revealing wider transmission than initially thought.

“The more we are investigating this outbreak, the more we realise that it has already disseminated at least a little bit across the border and also in other provinces,” BBC quoted Ancia as saying.

She described Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, as “a very insecure area with lots of movement of population”, making efforts to trace infections and contain the disease more difficult.

She added that the outbreak had also spread to South Kivu province, an area already grappling with a prolonged humanitarian crisis.

he outbreak, which has killed at least 131 people, has raised global concern following reports of cross-border transmission into neighbouring Uganda, where one death has already been recorded.

Officials said more than 513 Ebola cases were suspected in Congo as of yesterday.

The WHO recently declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, citing the virus’s escalating spread and the growing risk of cross-border transmission.

However, the organisation noted that the outbreak had not yet met the threshold for a pandemic emergency under the International Health Regulations.

There is currently no vaccine for the strain of Ebola driving the latest outbreak, although the WHO said it was evaluating whether existing drugs could offer some level of protection.

MEANWHILE, a don, Prof. Sylvester Odion Akhaine, has expressed concern with the recent outbreak of Ebola in Congo DRC, where over 131 people are reportedly dead from the outbreak, spreading into Uganda.

According to the don, it is even frightening that the current strain of Ebola has no vaccine specifications.

Akhaine, however, noted that while countries in Eastern Africa are manning their borders,  there is a prevalent air of unperturbedness in Nigeria.

He said: “Last time, it was Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh that paid the supreme price, by restraining the Liberian carrier of Ebola virus, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite antics to let him loose in 2014.

“Politics is about the affairs of the people, the repository of popular sovereignty.  Incumbent state actors should rise to the occasion and begin to give the emerging global health emergency the attention it deserves.”