Uganda has recorded its first case of Ebola since the outbreak of the disease in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Tuesday that a five-year-old Congolese child who had travelled from the DRC with his family in early June was being treated.

“The child and his family entered the country through Bwera Border post and sought medical care," the WHO wrote on Twitter.

A medical team has been sent by Uganda’s health ministry to the western town of Kasese to vaccinate those who may have come into contact with the boy and to trace other possible cases.

Uganda has been on high alert since the outbreak in the eastern DRC, where more than 2,000 cases of the highly contagious virus have been recorded, two-thirds of which have been fatal.

The DRC, meanwhile, is struggling to contain the disease as it continues to spread while aid workers are battling to reach those affected due to continuing insecurity in the country and attacks on aid workers by armed militias.