Officials previously questioned whether the deadly disease was indeed present in the African country, which had seen 8 suspected Marburg deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a suspected outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Kagera region of northwestern Tanzania, with nine people reportedly infected, of whom eight have died.

An outbreak of Marburg virus disease has been confirmed in Tanzania in the northwestern Kagera region following investigations and laboratory analysis of suspected cases. President Samia Suluhu Hassan said that one sample had tested positive for the Marburg virus in a remote area of northern Tanzania.

Lab tests identified one patient as being infected by the virus, Samia Suluhu Hassan says. The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88%, and is from the same virus family as the one

Marburg virus is a close cousin of Ebola, causing similar symptoms and spreading in the same way. It can cause death in up to 88% of infected people.

In March 2023, Tanzania reported its first Marburg virus outbreak, which also occurred in Kagera region. The outbreak was declared over in June 2023, with nine infections reported, six of them fatal. The WHO said zoonotic reservoirs of the virus, such as fruit bats, remain in the area.

Tanzania's government said no-one in the country had tested positive for the Marburg virus after the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least eight people in the northwest were believed to have died from it.

The WHO reported nine suspected cases of Marburg virus, resulting in eight deaths across two districts in Tanzania. It suspects that the virus could spread farther as the outbreak region borders Uganda,

Tanzania has pushed back against a report from the World Health Organization warning of a new Marburg virus outbreak in the country.