France has recorded its first-ever case of the Ebola virus on French soil, involving a doctor who recently returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country currently facing a major outbreak, French health authorities have announced.

The Ministry of Health stated that it was confirming the detection of “a first positive case of the Ebola virus on national territory”, adding that the patient has been placed in isolation and that contact-tracing procedures have begun.

According to the French authorities, the risk posed by the Ebola virus to the general population in Europe remains low.

French Prime Minister Stéphane Lecornu is monitoring the situation “extremely closely”, according to sources within his office.

More than 1,000 people have been infected with the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of whom 267 have died, according to official figures. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that this represents the highest number of confirmed cases ever recorded during the first month following the outbreak of an Ebola epidemic.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on 15 May, although the virus was only identified several weeks after a series of “mysterious” deaths in a town in Ituri Province, the epicentre of the current outbreak.

Over the past 50 years, more than 15,000 people have died from Ebola across Africa.

The current outbreak has been linked to the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is currently no vaccine or treatment.