The Ugandan ministry of health has confirmed an outbreak of Ebola virus after one case was reported in Bundibugyo, a town on the border with DR Congo, which has recorded 246 cases and 80 deaths from the haemorrhagic disease.

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The case is a 59-year-old Congolese man who had been admitted at a local hospital on May 11, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The patient, who had presented respiratory distress, fever and nausea among other symptoms, died on Thursday, the ministry said, adding that it was the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus, of six strains of the highly infectious disease.

The new outbreak of Ebola was first confirmed in DR Congo's Ituri province on Friday.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) confirmed the outbreak in a statement on Friday. It noted that preliminary tests had indicated that the virus was a non-Zaire ebolavirus strain.