Ebola in Guinea: Liberia partially shuts border as fifth death in a week is confirmed

Latest case detected 200km from village where four other recent deaths occurred

Health workers testing to see if people have Ebola in Guinea (AP)

Liberia has partially shut its border with Guinea after the country confirmed its fifth Ebola death in just a week.

The Liberian Information Minister Eugene Nagbe told the BBC they were contemplating closing the entire border with Guinea but for now it is only the border in the Lofa county area.

Liberia lost over 4,000 people to the disease at the height of the epidemic in 2014-2015 and has been declared free from the disease three times.

Guinea had been on track to be free of Ebola transmission this month before the new cases emerged.

Critics warn the border between the two West African countries is porous and people will continue to enter Liberia in forested areas because of cross-border business.

The latest case was detected in Macenta prefecture, about 200km from the village of Korokpara where the four other recent Ebola-related deaths occurred, said Fode Sylla Tass, spokesman for National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola in Guinea.

Mr Tass said the man, who was not identified, had recently visited the village.

Additional reporting by agencies