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French health authorities announced on Wednesday the country's first confirmed case of Ebola, involving a doctor who recently returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the French Ministry of Health confirmed that the case was detected in mainland France, marking the first recorded infection in the country during the current Ebola outbreak.

The ministry said the doctor had been participating in a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tested positive for the virus after returning to France.

The patient has been placed in isolation while health authorities are conducting contact-tracing measures to identify and monitor individuals who may have been exposed.

Officials stated that the risk to the general population in France and the rest of Europe remains low.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded its highest number of confirmed Ebola cases during the first month of an outbreak.

The virus has infected more than 1,000 people and claimed 267 lives.

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and has caused more than 15,000 deaths across Africa over the past five decades. //Petra// AK