Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed eight new Ebola virus cases in North Kivu province, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

This marks a new outbreak in the country.

Of the eight cases, there have been six fatalities, the WHO's regional office for Africa said on its Twitter account.

Some 573 people who had been exposed to the virus have been identified.

The WHO tweeted an update:

https://twitter.com/WHOAFRO/status/1455891071238553606

The country has had a resurgence of the virus cases this year.

A previous Ebola outbreak in DR Congo was declared over in May 2021.

It had claimed the lives of 2,287 people since August 2018.