The World Health Organization’s director general had earlier announced he was coming to Bunia, capital of Ituri province, to “help” and “listen to” the people facing the worst of the outbreak.

The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded.

There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

“The international community is involved under the leadership of the government of the DRC – and at the same time community ownership is important,” Tedros told reporters.

“That’s why we are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help.”

But the true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to have been circulating before it was detected, is likely to be much wider, the WHO has warned.

The vast, unstable central African country – whose impoverished east has been plagued by three decades of conflict – has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.