DR Congo has reported 1,307 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 377 deaths News about Ebola

The epidemic is spreading to the fourth district, Haut-Uele, on the border with South Sudan and CAR, according to media reports.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 1,307 confirmed cases of Ebola in the country, including 377 deaths.

In a statement released late Monday, the country said confirmed cases have been recorded in three districts – Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.

The announcement comes as the news agency AFP reported that a case had been found in the fourth district. A source at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the DRC (INRB) cited by AFP said that the HIV virus has spread in Haut-Uele, which borders South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The source said the case was discovered after the infected person left Bunia, the capital of Ituri for Haut-Uele.

The man has died, a health source told AFP.

Officials are trying to track transmissions and identify contacts.

Its spread in Haut-Uele means that the entire north-east of the DRC, home to about 15 million people, has been affected.

The conflict-affected Ituri region is responsible for the country’s latest Ebola outbreak, the 17th, which began in May.

Often, the virus is spread at funerals, where the bodies most infected with Ebola are treated.

For weeks, aid workers, facing distrust among the community, have struggled to organize safe burials in the affected areas to protect the dead.

In the DRC, funerals usually last several days, during which relatives and friends touch the body of the deceased.

Speaking from Rwampara hospital in Ituri district, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Wambua-Soi said health workers are often ill-equipped.

He said: “This place has been attacked several times. Last month, tents here were set on fire by a group of angry people.”

“They need everything: personal protective equipment, medicine, rapid testing equipment… and body bags.”

On Saturday, the government banned public gatherings in four provinces, including the capital, Kinshasa, as it continues to fight the spread of the epidemic.

The order was issued ahead of protests planned in Kinshasa on July 8 against the constitutional reform, with critics saying the ban was “politically motivated.”