Health minister confirms 2 people have died of Ebola in Congo

Congo's health minister says two Ebola deaths have been confirmed in the Central African country.

Felix Kabange Numbi said Sunday that two of eight samples from the northwest Equateur province came back positive for the deadly disease.

Numbi said the samples were from the region where the World Health Organization said an outbreak of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis has killed 70 people in recent weeks.

The WHO said last week those deaths were not Ebola-related.

Numbi said Congolese officials believed Ebola had killed 13 people in the region, including five health workers. He said 11 people were sick and in isolation and that 80 contacts were being traced.

He said the infections were of a different strain than those in the outbreak in West Africa that has killed more than 1,600 people.