Abidjan -The Ivory Coast has closed its borders
with Ebola-hit Guinea and Liberia in a bid to
protect citizens against an epidemic that has
killed 1,427 people across West Africa, the
prime minister said Saturday.
The closure was implemented on Friday "to
protect all people, including foreigners, living
on Ivorian territory," Prime Minister Daniel
Kaban Duncan said in a statement.
The move comes in the wake of the first
reported Ebola deaths in the southeast of
Liberia, which borders the Ivory Coast.
Liberia has been the hardest hit by the worst-
ever Ebola outbreak, with 624 deaths since
March, according to the latest figures from the
World Health Organization.
Guinea has seen 406 people die while in Sierra
Leone, 392 have succumbed to the
haemorrhagic fever. Nigeria, meanwhile, has
seen five people pass away.
