GENEVA - Amid multiple deadly attacks on civilians by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an Ebola death “unlinked to any chain of transmission”, risks reversing major gains against the epidemic, a top UN medic said on Friday.

Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies programme, said that while “98 per cent” of infection in the last three weeks could be traced back to two chains of transmission, a third one had now been identified in Oicha health zone, North Kivu.

According to the WHO, the death can be linked to health zones in Kalunguta, Mandima, Mabalako and Beni, in addition to Oicha.

The agency says it knows of more than 200 contacts associated with that case, 62 are of “extreme high risk”, but it has only had access to 19 so far. There have been 3,298 infections in total and 2,197 deaths since the latest Ebola outbreak was declared last August.