Rwanda's outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus is easing after vaccinations of the most vulnerable people including healthcare workers, but mpox cases are still spreading to new African countries, Rwanda's health minister and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's head said on Thursday.

Rwanda's Marburg virus outbreak is slowing due to vaccinations, with infections down by over 50%. However, mpox cases are spreading to more African nations, with 42,000 suspected cases reported continent-wide.

Symptoms of virus include fever, muscle pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, and, in severe cases, life-threatening blood loss

The head of Africa’s top public health agency says that an outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg fever in Rwanda is under control and that travel bans to the East African country are unnecessary.

Africa's top public health agency says the number of mpox-related deaths in the continent has surpassed 1,000 and warned of the continuing threat of cross-border contamination and a lack of rapid test

Mpox has killed 1,100 people in Africa so far this year as a lack of vaccines, congested refugee camps and prisons fuel the spread of a disease that can also result in blindness and disfigurement.