The chief of the World Health Organization said Tuesday he is “deeply concerned about the scale and speed” of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, as local officials warn of a rising death toll linked to the epidemic.

Some 88 people have died from the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever in the DR Congo, with one death in Uganda, and at least 336 suspected cases.

At least 80 people have died in what the World Health Organization says potentially could be a "much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported".