The World Health Organisation, WHO, has approved two new Ebola vaccine candidates for clinical trials as health authorities intensify efforts to combat the deadly disease in Africa.

WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the vaccines were specifically developed to target the Bundibugyo strain affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The vaccines, developed by the University of Oxford and Moderna, will join an ongoing clinical trial led by the country’s National Institute for Biomedical Research.

Meanwhile, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says the outbreak has claimed more than five thousand three hundred lives, with over ten thousand confirmed cases recorded across Africa.

The WHO has emphasised the importance of early treatment, contact tracing and community engagement in containing the outbreak.

The approval is expected to support ongoing efforts to develop vaccines capable of addressing the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.