Ebola death toll in DR Congo rises to 865

The death toll from the contagious Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has risen to 865 since the start of an outbreak last July, according to an official statement on Monday.

The Health Ministry of the Central African country said among 1,439 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, some 1,373 were confirmed to be Ebola cases.

Nearly 100 people are being treated for the disease, while 410 have recovered from the virus.

Some 66 people died following the hemorrhagic fever, but it could not be verified whether they died of Ebola.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with body fluids, infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.

Ebola caused global alarm in 2014 when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

* Writing by Faruk Zorlu