A second case of Ebola has been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following an outbreak of 17 further suspected cases.

Health workers are trying to trace 125 people thought to be linked to the cases in the country's remote northeastern province of Bas-Uele, near the border with the Central African Republic.

The disease has an incubation period of 21 days and people who have symptoms have been warned to isolate themselves while waiting for treatment.

Three people have died so far.

The World Health Organisation said the first victim was a man who was confirmed as having Ebola on 22 April around 870 miles from the country's capital Kinshasa.


It is not yet clear how this outbreak originated but previous ones have been blamed on contact with infected animals such as apes.

WHO said it was working with DRC officials and sending health workers to help deal with the crisis.

In a televised address, Health Minister Oly Ilunga urged people "not to panic", adding that the authorities had "taken all necessary measures to respond quickly and efficiently to this new outbreak".

It comes just a year after an Ebola epidemic in West Africa killed more than 11,300 people, most of them in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The disease was first detected in 1976, near the River Ebola in DRC, after which it is named. There have been seven outbreaks in the country since, the most recent in 2014, which killed 49 people.