File photos show Chinese mobile laboratory team get into a laboratory in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, Jan. 23, 2015 amid an Ebola outbreak. (Xinhua/Zhang Ke)

KINSHASA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- New Ebola cases have been confirmed in the eastern North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Health Minister Oly Ilunga said on Wednesday.

"Just one week after announcing the end of the ninth epidemic of Ebola in Equateur province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a new epidemic, and there is no indication at this stage that two epidemics, separated by more than 2,500 km, are linked," said Ilunga in a statement.

According to the minister, of the samples taken from hospitalized patients who arrived in Kinshasa on Tuesday and analyzed by the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB), four were found to be positive for Ebola virus.

"Although we do not expect to face a tenth epidemic so early, the detection of the virus is an indicator of the proper functioning of the surveillance system put in place by the General Directorate for Disease Control," said the minister.

"As Ebola is endemic in many parts of the country due to the equatorial forest ecosystem, the Ministry of Health has already strengthened its epidemiological surveillance system in all risk areas, including North-Kivu," Ilunga said.

The outbreak reported on May 8 resulted in 33 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. The authorities announced on July 24 the end of the epidemic with a total of 54 cases of hemorrhagic fevers recorded. Enditem