Ebola cases in the DRC rise as cross border traffic monitored

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC has risen to 452, including 82 deaths, according to the country's health ministry.

It reports 71 new confirmed cases on June 4, including 21 deaths, in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, a sign of rapid and continuing community transmission amid the outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.

Leah Masika was on the verge of tears as she thought of her valuable consignment

of plantain stuck in a long convoy of trucks on both sides of the Uganda-Congo border.

Her cargo, destined for Uganda, was starting to leak water, and would go bad within hours if there was no movement.

"When they closed the border, we were told that trucks would continue operating so we ordered plantain from DRC they brought them and offloaded across the border and when we tried crossing,

they blocked us. All our goods are now there rotting."

The Ugandan trader was awaiting clearance from authorities for trucks to pass through the Mpondwe border post on Thursday after they were prevented from entering or leaving Uganda as part of escalating measures to prevent cross-border Ebola contagion.

This Mpondwe resident said "Ebola has destroyed our work. We were told that trucks could go through but people were barred from crossing."

A surveillance officer said they were trying a systematic way

to combat cross infection.

Arafat Bwambale, Health surveillance officer said

"The border on Mpondwe has porous points about 32 just across, across the board. So it is easier for the citizens, the Congolese citizens to get in here and that's what we are trying to deal with. So for now we hope after our district task force, we can be able to have a more restricted way on how both the cargo or the trucks get into the country in a systematic way where we don't have cross infection."

In the town of Mongbwaluat the centre of eastern Congo's Ebola outbreak health authorities have faced intense resistance from the population - a tent set up to serve as an Ebola treatment centre were burned by the population. And a hospital was later attacked when young people demanded the bodies of their kin.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the first cases were reported in late April in Bunia the capital of Ituri province and the nearby Mongbwalu health zone, a high-traffic mining area.

However officials say they are not certain of the source and the outbreak may have started weeks earlierand gone unnoticed.

The disease spread for weeks before being detected and authorities tested for the more common Ebola virus not the Bundibugyo virus responsible for this outbreak.