The number of deaths in Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak has surpassed 4 000, government data showed on Friday, as the worst epidemic in the country's history resists containment efforts. 

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, became the largest and deadliest in Congo after surpassing the 2018-2020 epidemic.

It is now second only to the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, which infected over 28 600 people and killed more than 11 000 across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Government figures showed on Friday that the death toll had risen to 4 018, and confirmed cases had reached 8 300 across seven provinces.

Over 2 000 patients have recovered from the disease.

Congo's government and the UN said last month there were signs that transmission was slowing in some parts of Ituri province, where the outbreak began. But it continues to spread fast across eastern Congo, including in neighbouring North Kivu. 

South Ubangi province, located in the northwest of the country, became the seventh province to declare the outbreak last month after a man who had travelled from eastern Congo died of the virus.