The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is slowing in some places but growing in others, health officials said this week.

As of October 6, Congo had recorded 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths, the World Health Organization said in an update on Thursday. That means about 48% of confirmed patients have died. The outbreak now touches 64 health zones in seven provinces.

The virus is the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. There is no approved vaccine or treatment made for it.

Ituri province is still the center, with 6,480 cases. North Kivu has 1,755 cases and the highest death rate, nearly 58%. Both provinces border Uganda, and they accounted for all new cases in the latest daily count, The Star in Kenya reported.

There is some good news. Africa CDC said confirmed cases fell 24% in Ituri and 19% in North Kivu over the past three weeks, Xinhua reported. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that "new hotspots continue to appear," including near the border with South Sudan.

Many deaths still happen at home, not in treatment centers. WHO said 264 of the last 372 deaths happened in communities, which suggests people are reaching care late. Health teams also reached only about 80% of the people they were supposed to track, below their 85% goal.

The outbreak has crossed borders. Kenya confirmed its first imported case this week, a man who traveled from Congo through Uganda to Nairobi. He died on October 5. A health worker infected in Congo was also flown to the Netherlands for care.

Vaccine work is moving. A trial of an Oxford vaccine began in Uganda on October 6, and a Moderna shot has approval for a trial there, Africa CDC said.

WHO rates the risk as very high in Congo, high for its neighbors and low for the rest of the world. It advises against travel bans.

What we know: Cases are near 8,800, and spread is uneven.
What we don't: How many infections are going uncounted.