Ebola death toll in Guinea rises to 460

The latest data released by Guinea's health ministry shows that at least 690 Ebola cases have been confirmed in the country, out of which 460 people have died.

A total of 143 patients were cured and discharged from treatment centers while 86 cases are still undergoing treatment in health centers.

Since the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, 45 health workers have been infected with the virus and 26 of them have died while nine others are still hospitalized.

Head of disease prevention unit at the health ministry Dr. Sakoba Keita said the eight regions that were initially affected by the disease have not reported any new cases in the last one week.

He said 16 border health control posts out of the expected 41 have already been established at the country's different entry points, and this has been followed by the training of medical staff in charge of surveillance of passengers entering or leaving the country.

Regarding the first Ebola case confirmed in Dakar, Senegal, which concerned a Guinean student, the World Health Organization's coordinator for emergency services Dr. Sosthene Zombre said it was a sociology student from Conakry university who contracted the virus in Forecariah prefecture near the Sierra Leonian border.

To date, four members of the student's family have died from the disease and 75 people suspected of having had contact with him from his town are being monitored.

"Community deaths and delayed reporting of new cases constitute the major causes of the spread of Ebola virus in the country," Keita said, urging the population to collaborate with the country's health services.