Health ministry warns of spread as Ebola cases exceed 500 in DRC

Confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have climbed to 515, including 91 deaths, the health ministry said Sunday, warning of continued transmission and further increases if urgent control measures are not enforced.

The ministry's update said three more patients were declared recovered, bringing the total to 12 as of June 6. It added that 117 suspected cases were recorded, while 283 patients remained in isolation or hospitalization.

A large number of confirmed patients developed symptoms between May 14 and May 23, with a peak on May 18, suggesting contamination from a probable common source. Another group fell ill between May 25 and June 3, demonstrating continued spread and forming what the report called "an important reservoir,"the ministry said.

"An increase in cases may be recorded if adequate measures are not put in place very quickly," it said.

The response remains hampered by weak contact tracing, community resistance to post-mortem testing, insufficient capacity at standardized Ebola treatment centers, shortages of infection prevention and control materials, as well as limited funding, according to the report.

Uganda has confirmed three new Ebola cases, bringing the cumulative number of infections to 19, the Ugandan Ministry of Health said on Friday.

Health ministry warns of spread as Ebola cases exceed 500 in DRC

The nine mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) recorded 9.46 trillion yuan (around 1.42 trillion U.S. dollars) in foreign trade in the first 10 months, up 26 percent year on year, according to statistics from the Guangdong Sub-administration of the General Administration of Customs on Friday.

As a city cluster, the GBA is one of the most economically open areas in China. It is composed of nine cities in south China's Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.

The growth was six percentage points faster than the national average, buoyed by the country's strong international trade and the region's vitality as an export hub. The nine cities accounted for 21.1 percent of China's total foreign trade value, up one percentage point from the same period last year.

Exports reached 5.54 trillion yuan (around 830 billion U.S. dollars), up 15.1 percent, while imports rose 45.4 percent to 3.92 trillion yuan (around 590 billion U.S. dollars).

Mainland cities of Greater Bay Area see 26 pct trade growth in first 10 months