KINSHASA: A new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has caused scores of deaths has a "very high lethality rate" and no vaccine or specific treatment, the country's health minister warned Saturday. "The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine, no specific treatment," Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa. "This strain has a very high lethality rate, which can reach 50 percent," Samuel-Roger Kamba said in Kinshasa. Earlier on Saturday, ministry officials said the death toll had already reached 80, up from 65 initially reported the previous day.

The surge in cases marks the 17th Ebola outbreak in the Congo since 1976.

About 246 suspected cases & 65 deaths have been reported mainly in Mongbwalu and Rwampara health zones in Ituri province, near the Ugandan border.