Health authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo will introduce a new Ebola vaccine in November in the country's eastern provinces to counter the current outbreak.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will complement another vaccine manufactured by Merck, which has been administered to more than 225,000 people. 

Unlike the Merck vaccine which requires a single shot, the J&J vaccine requires two injections administered eight weeks apart.

The first batch of 500,000 doses of the new vaccine should arrive in Congo next week, according to the country's health authorities. The inoculation process will start in Goma in early November and then be extended to other provinces.

DR Congo health authorities had announced the deployment of the vaccine last month, but had not specified when it would take place.

Since it first started in August 2018, the Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people, second only to the 2013-16 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,300.

The current Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo has killed more than 2,100 people since August last year, and is considered the country's largest ever outbreak.

The World Health Organization reports that some 1,000 people have recovered from the disease, with more than 3,150 cases overall.

The agency in July declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, calling for more measures to curb its spread.