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KAMPALA: Uganda's president Monday warned against physical contact after a victim of a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus was reported in the capital Kampala for the first time.

"The Ministry of Health are tracing all the people who have had contact with the victims," Yoweri Museveni said in a state broadcast, adding that 14 people had died in total since Ebola broke out in western Uganda three weeks ago.

Two cases have since been reported in the capital, with one victim reported dead in Kampala's Mulago Hospital, he said, calling on people not to shake hands to avoid the spread of the killer virus.

"Ebola spreads by contact when you contact each other physically... avoid shaking of hands, because that can cause contact through sweat, which can cause problems," Museveni said.

"Do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms that look like Ebola - instead call health workers because they know how to do it...avoid promiscuity because this sickness can also go through sex," he added.

Seven doctors and 13 health workers at Mulago hospital are in quarantine after "at least one or two cases" were taken there, with one later dying from the virus.

"I appeal to you to first of all report all cases which appear to be like Ebola, and these are high fever, vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea, and with bleeding," he added.

"When you handle this case well you can eliminate Ebola quickly."

According to experts, despite being extremely virulent, the disease is containable because it kills its victims faster than it can spread to new ones.

It has a fatality ratio of between 23% - 90%, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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Uganda warns on physical contact as Ebola reaches capital