Congo's Ebola outbreak could have begun in January or even earlier, months before it was declared. (AP PHOTO)Congo's Ebola outbreak could have begun in January or even earlier, months before it was declared. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAPCongo's confirmed Ebola cases have risen above 4000 for the first time in the current outbreak, according to government data. A report published in the journal Science in July concluded that Congo's outbreak had started in January, or even earlier, in Ituri. So far only West Africa's 2014-16 outbreak has been bigger, with over 28,000 cases recorded across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.