EBOLA: Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the continent’s top public health body, confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo’s remote Ituri province today, with 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths recorded so far.

The deaths and suspected cases have been recorded mainly in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, Africa CDC said in a statement.

“Four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, pending confirmation,” the agency said.

HANTAVIRUS: Six passengers from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak arrived in Australia today for a quarantine expected to last at least three weeks.

The jet carrying them from the Netherlands landed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce outside the Western Australian capital, Perth. The passengers and crew were taken by bus to the nearby Bullsbrook quarantine facility.

BRICS: A two-day meeting of Brics nation foreign ministers concluded in New Delhi today without a joint statement because of “differing views among some members” on the situation in the Middle East, host India said.

The Indian statement said members expressed “their respective national positions and shared a range of perspectives” on issues including sovereignty, maritime security and the protection of civilian infrastructure and civilian lives in the Middle East.

GULF STATES: Arab states of the Persian Gulf are considering signing a non-aggression pact with Iran once the current war ends, according to a report in the Financial Times today.

The report says the initiative, backed by European powers, is seeking to build a framework for medium-term stability.