The National Institute of Biomedical Research in Equateur Province, northwestern in the Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed two cases of Ebola virus disease in the country.

CEOAfrica gathered that in the 2014 to 2015 outbreak, 11,000 people died, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.

The last outbreak of Ebola in the DRC was in 2014 and killed more than 40 people.

The region affected lies 1,300km north-east of Kinshasa, close to the border with the Central African Republic.

The WHO described the outbreak as “a public health crisis of international importance”.

It said the first teams of experts, including epidemiologists, biologists, and hygiene specialists had been dispatched and were due to arrive in the affected region by Friday or Saturday.

While this outbreak will be extremely worrying for communities in this remote part of northern DR Congo, it is important to remember that the country has stamped out more Ebola outbreaks than any other place on earth.

It is well practiced in fighting the deadly virus.

Ebola was first identified in DR Congo (then Zaire) in 1976.

Since then, there have been at least eight in the country.

The last was in 2014, when – at the same time – parts of West Africa were fighting a separate outbreak, the worst in history.

DR Congo was able to bring an end to its epidemic within four months. In West Africa, which had never experienced an Ebola outbreak before, it took two years.

Authorities in DR Congo will need to act quickly to contain the virus, and ensure it doesn’t spread to more populated areas.

This time, for the first time, health officials have another weapon they can us e. The world has an experimental vaccine that could be deployed if needed.