Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, says he's hopeful the Ebola outbreak in his country will end in the coming weeks.

After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Tshisekedi said at Friday's news conference that a few cases of the deadly contagious disease remain in the eastern province of Ituri, but "we think we can end it completely by the end of the year".

Over 2,000 people have died in the outbreak which the United Nations declared an international emergency in July. But according to government data, the number of reported infections has dropped significantly in recent weeks.