The declaration comes just days after Uganda confirmed a case in its capital Kampala.

A new Ebola outbreak in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo has left more than eighty people dead since April.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the disease has spread to neighbouring Uganda where two cases have been confirmed.

That prompted WHO experts to declare it a public health emergency.

Scientists say the outbreak circulating in the DRC is caused by the Bundibugyo virus which has a fatality rate of between 30 to 50 percent.

The strain was first identified in western Uganda in 2007 and currently has no vaccine.

The WHO has urged countries neighbouring the DRC to strengthen surveillance and control measures along their borders.

The organisation has also discouraged travel bans and restrictions.

However, Rwanda has closed its border with the DRC at the western town of Rubavu.

The latest Ebola outbreak is the 17th to occur in the DRC since 1976.

It has happened in a region with significant cross-border trade that is also grappling with armed conflict.

The DRC health minister and several WHO experts have travelled to Ituri province to help coordinate response efforts with local health workers.

–SABC–