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By Jennifer Rigby and Mariam Sunny
June 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that the world is "catching up" with the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, where there ‌have been 344 confirmed cases of the disease and 60 confirmed deaths, although challenges remain.
"The outbreak ‌had a big head start, and we're still behind, but under the leadership of the government of DRC, we're catching up," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing.
The outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, has spread to neighbouring Uganda where 15 cases have been confirmed, including one death, the agency said.
Access to testing has also improved, which is why hundreds of cases that were initially suspected as Ebola have now been ruled out, the WHO ‌said. The most common tests used for ⁠Ebola do not detect the Bundibugyo strain causing this outbreak, which had caused a backlog.