Officials say the latest victims all died this week

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EBOLA has claimed the lives of four more victims as the death toll from the deadly disease hits 82 after another outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Officials say the latest victims all died this week. Since August 28, 11 more cases the highly contagious illness have been reported in the Central African country, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed. In an attempt to contain the virus, aid workers have educated nearly 2.5 million Africans on how to reduce the risk of it spreading.

But officials admitted they are struggling to locate the area where the disease is being transmitted because the source of the outbreak lies near a dangerous conflict zone. Saturday marked a month since the start of the latest outbreak, with 122 cases of Ebola reported so far. Of the cases, the WHO said nearly 70 percent of patients died despite health officials rolling out treatment drugs, Mail Online reports. In the latest report on the epidemic, the WHO warned “recent trends suggest control measures are working”.

But reports of the virus spreading to the he city of Beni in the North Kivu region in north-east of the Congo near the Uganda border tell a different story. Of the confirmed Ebola cases, up to 16 health workers have contracted the disease. UNICEF this week said it has now reached 2,454,000 people with its Ebola prevention messages in the past month. A UNICEF representative said: “An increasing number of communities are now aware about Ebola and how to prevent its transmission.

Oofficials admitted they are struggling to locate the area where the disease is being transmitted

“The active involvement of concerned communities is key to stopping the spread of the disease.” The representative added: “We are working closely with them to promote hand-washing and good hygiene practices, and to identify and assist people that might be infected with the virus.” The latest outbreak comes as a new Ebola virus strain has been discovered in bats in Sierra Leone. The new type of virus has has never been detected in sick humans or other animals, a study from the University of California found.