detect the virus. Fifty-one cases have now been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo - where the first case was reported - and two in neighbouring Uganda, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, he said the outbreak of the Bundibugyo species of Ebola was likely to have started "a couple of months ago". On Sunday, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern, but said it was not at pandemic level. Ghebreyesus said that after meeting on Tuesday, the health organisation's emergency committee agreed the situation was "not a pandemic emergency". "WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels and low at the global level", he explained.

"We know the scale of the epidemic in DRC is much larger", the WHO chief said, adding that healthcare workers were among those who had died, which was a particular concern. A WHO official said investigations were under way to find out how long the virus had been spreading for, but that their priority was to curb transmission. The first known case was a nurse who developed symptoms and died on 24 April, in Ituri's provincial capital Bunia. The body was repatriated to Mongwalu, one of two gold-mining towns where the majority of cases have been reported. (BBC)