United Nations, UN.- Agencies are facing greater challenges today in managing and containing the new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the epicenter is an area of active conflict.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, the outbreak in North Kivu is more dangerous than the previous one reported in Equateur province due to security challenges.

The area has been witness to more than 120 violent incidents since January to date, including killings and abductions of civilians, a report in Geneva warned.

After his recent visit to Beni and Mangina, where the outbreak began a week ago, he was deeply concerned about the difficulty of access faced by health workers.

For this reason, the WHO head called on conflicting sides and also the international community for further assistance in order to ensure access to locations affected by the disease.

Areas where armed groups are now operating may be ‘hidden spots’ for the virus, health workers have not gotten there and people are having difficulties in moving to places where they can get the necessary support, he said.

According to WHO and the Ministry of Health of the DRC, there are 57 confirmed or suspected cases so far, with 41 people dead, figures which exceed what was reported in the Ebola outbreak a few weeks ago in the province of Equateur, with 53 cases and 29 deaths.

Ghebreyesus emphasized the lack of access is accompanied by other challenges which complicate the response to the disease, including high population density in North Kivu and large-scale population movements within the region and across borders with neighboring countries.

In that part of the DRC, around one million people have been internally displaced by the confrontations.

The new Ebola warning in Democratic Congo arose on July 25th, after a woman and several members of her family died after showing consistent symptoms of the disease.