Uganda has begun a trial vaccination programme for the strain of Ebola viral infection that is behind the country's latest outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), while the number of confirmed cases has risen to three.

Ugandan authorities have begun a clinical trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of Ebola that has killed one person in the outbreak declared last week.

Test results on the sick people are pending, and a top WHO official said the outbreak response is proceeding rapidly.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said that it has launched a first ever vaccine trial in Uganda for Ebola from the Sudan species of the virus. (Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru)

In a global first, Uganda’s Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners today launched a first ever vaccine trial for Ebola from the Sudan species of the virus, and at an unprecedented speed for a randomized vaccine trial in an emergency.

After the first Ebola death in Uganda in years, a senior health official says authorities in the African nation are "in full control of the situation."

In its last outbreak, more than two years ago, Uganda saw 164 cases and 55 confirmed deaths from Ebola. Uganda announced Thursday that a nurse, 32, had died of Ebola in the capital, Kampala, amid a new outbreak of the deadly virus there — the first in two years.

Ugandan officials initiated a clinical trial on Monday for a vaccine targeting the Sudan strain of Ebola, which has resulted in one fatality since the outbreak was declared last week.