Officials: At least 131 deaths reported in Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo

At least 131 deaths have been reported in the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and more than 513 cases of infection are suspected, local officials said, the British public service BBC (BBC) reported today.

A spokesperson for the DR Congo government said cases are now being reported across a wider area.

Two cases of infection and one death have been confirmed in Uganda, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of the current Ebola strain, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, an international emergency.

As this deadly Ebola outbreak continues to spread, the Congolese government has sought to reassure citizens that its crisis response teams are working hard to track and test suspected cases of the infection - and that there is no reason to panic.

However, with cases now confirmed in new areas, including Nyakunde in Ituri province, Butembo in North Kivu and the city of Goma, concerns are inevitably growing.

An American doctor in the Democratic Republic of Congo is among those confirmed to have contracted the virus, according to the medical missionary organization he worked for and the CDC.

The person will now be transferred to Germany for treatment, they told CBS News, the BBC's American partner.

Although the CDC did not name the American working in the country, the medical missionary organization Serge said one of its American doctors, Peter Stafford, had tested positive for Ebola.

Two other doctors from the organization who were exposed to the virus while treating patients, including Stafford's wife, Dr. Rebecca Stafford, had no symptoms and were following quarantine protocols, the organization said in a statement.

CBS News, citing sources, also reported that at least six Americans were exposed to the Ebola virus during the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The CDC said it supports "the safe withdrawal of the small number of Americans who are directly affected," but did not confirm how many people were involved.

The US government is reportedly trying to arrange transportation for a small group of Americans in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a safe quarantine location, a source told the health portal STAT.

Citing a source, the portal adds that the group could be transferred to a US military base in Germany, although this has not been confirmed.

The CDC declined to directly answer questions during a press conference on Sunday about the U.S. citizens who were reportedly affected.

In its latest report released on Monday, the US public health agency said the risk to the US was relatively low, but that it would introduce a series of measures to prevent the disease from entering the country.

This includes screening travelers coming from affected areas and imposing entry restrictions on people who do not have a US passport if they have been to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo or South Sudan in the past 21 days.

The CDC said it would work with airlines and other partners to trace the contacts of travelers, increase testing capacity, and prepare hospitals to respond to the outbreak.

The US has also issued a level four travel warning - the most severe level - advising citizens not to travel to the DR Congo.

The WHO has said that the outbreak in the eastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, but does not meet the criteria for a pandemic.

The agency also warned that it could potentially be a "significantly larger epidemic" than what is currently being detected and reported, with a significant risk of local and regional spread.

More than 28.600 people were infected with Ebola during the 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa, the largest outbreak of the virus since its discovery in 1976.

The disease has spread to several countries in West Africa and beyond, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy, and has claimed 11.325 lives.

Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, previously told the BBC that the number of suspected cases had reached almost 400.

He said that in the absence of vaccines and effective treatments, people should follow public health measures, including guidelines on how to handle funerals of people who have died from the disease.

"We don't want people to get infected because of funerals," he told the BBC World Service's Newsday program.

Communal burials, during which people helped wash the bodies of their loved ones, contributed to the infection of large numbers of people in the early stages of a major epidemic more than a decade ago.

The WHO has advised DR Congo and Uganda, the two countries with confirmed cases, to implement cross-border controls to avoid the spread of the virus.

She also called on nearby countries to "increase preparedness and preparedness," including surveillance in health facilities and communities.

Neighboring Rwanda said it would tighten controls along its border with DR Congo as a "precautionary measure," while Nigeria said it was "closely monitoring the situation."