High alert as DR Congo toll rises

The Democratic Republic of Congo joined with world agencies and neighbouring countries yesterday in boosting the response to an Ebola outbreak in the sprawling country's northwest, as the toll mounted.

The health ministry declared it had activated an "action plan" in the city of Mbandaka after a case of Ebola occurred there..

In Geneva, a World Health Organization (WHO) emergency panel met to determine whether the outbreak should be categorised as "a public health event of international concern" -- a move that would step up global action.

The death toll rose by two to 25 out of 45 cases, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters. Fourteen of the cases have been confirmed in laboratory tests.

Alarm bells sounded on Thursday after the outbreak, previously reported in a remote rural area, notched up its first confirmed case in a city -- bad news for rolling back the notorious virus.

Separately, the UN's migration agency said it was helping DRC's health ministry to send disease-tracking experts and medical staff to monitor travellers at 16 border points.

A regional bloc, the East African Community -- five of whose six members have borders with the DRC -- said it was on "high alert" over the outbreak and had put in place measures to screen travellers arriving from that country.