KAMPALA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has started screening for Ebola at a Congolese refugee settlement in the mid-western part of the east African country.

An operational update by the United Nations refugee agency issued on Tuesday said new arrivals at Sweswe Reception Center at Kyaka II Refugee Settlement are screened for the viral hemorrhagic fever.

The United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees said the screening is a precautionary measure following reports of confirmed cases in Bikoro Health Zone, Equateur province of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The refugee agency said from May 8-14, over 1,220 new refugees entered Uganda from the DRC, including 886 from North Kivu, 236 across Lake Albert and 98 via Paidha, arriving at landing sites in Hoima, Ntoroko and Nebbi districts.

Since this year started over 70,000 Congolese refugees have crossed into Uganda fleeing fighting back home.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.

Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to the World Health Organization, are extremely high, with the human case-fatality rate ranging from 50 percent to 89 percent, depending on viral sub-type. Enditem