KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Congo said on Friday that its yearlong Ebola outbreak had spread to a third province, with two new cases confirmed in the current outbreak, the second-largest in recorded history.

The country’s Health Ministry said two patients had tested positive this week in the Mwenga area of the province of South Kivu, more than 430 miles south of where the outbreak was first detected, in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

The cases have opened a new front in the fight against an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has affected 2,765 people, of whom 1,808 have died, according to the new report.

The current outbreak started on Aug. 1 last year, and the spread of the disease to a third province has occurred as health workers have struggled to contain it, despite the use of a vaccine.