The World Health Organisation (WHO) says a special response team is working to trace at least 70 people who came into contact with a woman who died from Ebola.
Health officials say they confirmed the disease in the sample taken after the woman’s passing.
The response team has been deployed to Biena, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to probe the possibility of more cases. Vaccines will also be sent to the area.
The announcement comes three months after the government declared the end to its 11th Ebola outbreak in the northwestern province of Kivu.
Health authorities say they found a woman with symptoms of Ebola near the DRC’s eastern city of Butembo on 1 February.
The woman was married to a man who survived Ebola in a previous outbreak. She is reported to have sought treatment at a local health centre where she died on 3 February.
Her samples tested positive for the deadly disease. The WHO says more than 70 people who came into contact with the woman have already been identified.
Butembo city was one of the epicenters of an Ebola outbreak that occurred in 2018. That outbreak lasted nearly two years and claimed more than 2 200 lives.
Health experts say it is common for sporadic cases to occur after a major outbreak. The announcement of the new case marks the start of the DRC’s 12th Ebola outbreak since 1976. –Reporting by Chris Ocamringa
