File photo shows a mobile laboratory set up in Bikoro General Hospital, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). (Xinhua/Wang Songyu)

LUSAKA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in Zambia on Wednesday announced that they have intensified surveillance at border entries in the wake of increased Ebola cases in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said surveillance measures have been increased as a precautionary measure to avoid the deadly disease from spreading into the country.

The government, he said, was concerned with the increasing cases of Ebola as well as an outbreak of measles in some parts DRC, hence its decision to heighten surveillance to ensure that the two diseases do not spread into Zambia, especially in border towns, according to the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, the state broadcaster.

According to the minister, the government has trained rapid responders who were going round working with health workers from different parts of the country to sensitize and screen people entering the country.

He stressed that Zambia has not yet recorded an Ebola cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern that the spread of Ebola in the DRC has escalated in recent months, with more than 2,000 cases recorded.