WHO says Ebola outbreak may have started as early as January

WHO says the Ebola outbreak has had a big head start. (Reuters: Gradel Muyisa Mumbere)

WHO chief says testing is improving in the struggle against Ebola, but contact tracing in DRC is not yet "where it needs to be".

Islamic State affiliate militants' attack has hampered efforts to combat the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has had "a big head start and we're still behind", the World Health Organization chief says, with continued militant attacks compounding the problem.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) military said an attack by an Islamic State affiliate known as the Allied Democratic Forces killed 16 people in the Beni territory in North Kivu province on Tuesday.

The militants struck in response to a joint operation of Congolese and Ugandan armies, which have been battling the group that operates in the border regions of the two countries.

Last month, the group attacked Congolese villages near the Ugandan border, killing at least 40 people and burning and looting homes.

The violence has hampered efforts to combat the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, which was announced in mid-May in eastern DRC's provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.

Neighbouring Uganda also has confirmed cases of Ebola. (Reuters: Arlette Bashizi)

Since then, Congolese authorities have confirmed 60 deaths in the outbreak out of 344 cases.

The number of suspected cases has gone down from 906 to 116.

Neighbouring Uganda has 15 confirmed cases, including one death, its health ministry said on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said testing was improving in the struggle against Ebola, with scaled-up laboratory and diagnostic capacity, though contact tracing in DRC was not yet "where it needs to be".

"The outbreak had a big head start, and we're still behind, but under the leadership of the government of DRC, we're catching up," he said.

Mr Tedros spoke a day after returning to Geneva from DRC, where he visited the epicentre of the outbreak.

"What I saw gave me hope, although challenges remain," he said.

The WHO chief recommends exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings. (Reuters: Gradel Muyisa Mumbere)

Mr Tedros said the outbreak may have started as early as January, but stressed the focus now should be on trying to contain it.

Mr Tedros stressed WHO recommended exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings.

He avoided a reporter's question about a US quarantine centre in Kenya w