Seventy people have already died since the ebola outbreak started in Guinea last week but the worst apparently is not yet over as health officials said there are now eight ebola cases in the country's capital, Conakry.
Health ministry spokesman Sakoba Keita already confirmed on national television that ebola, a highly infectious and deadly disease characterized by fever and severe internal bleeding, has already reached the nation's capital and largest city which serves as home to approximately 2 million people or nearly a quarter of Guinea's population.
The epidemic is spreading in other parts of the country as well. The number of suspected ebola cases throughout the country from January to March 31 alone is already 111. Of these, 78 have died indicating a fatality rate of 63 percent.
Other countries in West Africa are also desperate in containing the epidemic. Guinea's neighboring country Senegal has shut down its land border on Saturday over fears of ebola. It also announced on Friday that there will be sanitary checks on flights between its capital Dakar and Conakry to prevent the spread of the disease. Weekly markets that sell produce from Guinea and other neighboring countries were likewise suspended.
The ebola virus has also reached Liberia. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that there are now two confirmed cases of the virus in the country. The agency said that of the seven tested clinical samples from Foya district in Liberia, two were found positive of the deadly virus.
"Two of those samples have tested positive for the ebolavirus," WHO said in a statement. "There have been 2 deaths among the suspected cases; a 35 year old woman who died on 21 March tested positive for ebolavirus while a male patient who died on 27 March tested negative."
The agency, however, said that it does not recommend the implementation of travel and trade restrictions in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea based on the currently available information about the epidemic.
To prevent the spread of ebola, one of the world's deadliest diseases, people in affected areas were advised to refrain from attending funerals as much as possible as the disease basically spreads through contact with infected bodies. Symptoms of the disease, which often appear anywhere between two to 21 days after infection, include fever, muscle pain, weakness and sore throat.
