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Twelve people were tested for Ebola in Goma DR Congo on Saturday, just days after three patients in the densely populated city tested positive, the country's presidency said.
"In total, 12 people from various suburban centers (in Goma) are undergoing tests after the intervention team has triggered the warning protocol," the group said. in a statement.
Six other people suspected of being carriers of the virus were released after a negative test on Friday, the presidency said.
A one-year-old girl has become the third patient to be tested positive for Ebola in Goma, local officials said Wednesday.
She is the daughter of the second patient, a gold miner, who died earlier in the week.
His wife, also infected, and the girl were in a stable state Saturday, announced the presidency.
Goma is the capital of the province of North Kivu, which was the most affected by the epidemic that killed more than 1,800 people.
Meanwhile, two vehicles carrying members of a team fighting the Ebola virus were shot dead on the road linking Beni to Butembo, two North Kivu towns that also suffered a lot from the outbreak.
"Fortunately, no one was injured," police colonel Richard Mbambi told AFP.
Violence against medical staff in the provinces affected by various militias is one of the reasons the authorities have struggled to fight the epidemic.
Other countries in the region are concerned that the virus is spreading from the DRC to their territories.
Mozambique set up disease control points along its border with Malawi on Saturday as a precautionary measure, and officials said Rwanda had briefly closed its border with the DRC.
The Ebola virus causes fever, vomiting and severe diarrhea, often followed by kidney and liver failure and internal and external bleeding.
The disease is spread through contact with infected body fluids and is combated by contact tracing and quarantining.
There is no medical treatment for Ebola, although an unlicensed but tested vaccine has been widely used to help protect front-line workers.
The latest epidemic is the second deadliest ever after the death of more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia between 2014 and 2016.
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