India, May 17 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

However, the WHO clarified that the outbreak has not reached the level of a pandemic emergency.

In a statement, the global health body said: "The Director-General of WHO expresses his gratitude to the leadership of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda for their commitment to take necessary and vigorous actions to bring the event under control, as well as for their frankness in assessing the risk posed by this event to other States Parties, thereby allowing the global community to take necessary preparedness actions....