The Ebola virus has struck again in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has killed at least 20 people, the country’s Health Ministry reported Wednesday, just a week after officials announced the end of an Ebola outbreak 1,550 miles away.

The latest outbreak was the 10th time that Ebola, a contagious affliction that can quickly spread out of control, has menaced the Democratic Republic of Congo, a sprawling Central African country about twice the size of Texas. The virus, which causes fevers and fatal hemorrhaging, first appeared in the country in 1976.

The health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said in a statement that the authorities in North Kivu Province had notified his ministry on Saturday of 26 suspected cases of Ebola, including the 20 deaths. Samples from the six survivors were analyzed on Tuesday in Kinshasa, the capital, and four tested positive for the virus.

“The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a new epidemic,” the minister’s statement said.

In April, Ebola afflicted an area of Equator Province that included Mbandaka, a river port with more than one million inhabitants. The location raised alarms that the virus could infect other parts of Central Africa.