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Guinea has declared a 45-day “health emergency” in five regions in the west and south-west of the country over Ebola.

The restrictions include the quarantining of hospitals and clinics where new cases are detected, new rules on burials and possible lockdowns.

The Ebola outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013.

In January, the World Health Organization reported a steady drop in cases in the three epicenter countries.

Renewed concern has been triggered by fresh setbacks in these countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.Ebola outbreak Guinea

President Alpha Conde said he was declaring “a reinforced health emergency for a period of 45 days in the prefectures of Forecariah, Coyah, Dubreka, Boffa and Kindia” in a statement published in national media.

The focus of the virus “has shifted to our country’s coastal areas”, he said.

He added: “Wherever the need may be, throughout this period, measures of restriction and confinement will be taken.”

It is a first for the country since the outbreak began, Reuters reported.

On March 27, Sierra Leone began a three-day nationwide lockdown sparked by fears the virus was making a comeback in some parts of the country.

The southwest region of Guinea borders northern districts of Sierra Leone that are focus areas for the lockdown there.

On Friday evening Guinea deployed security forces to its south-west in response to reports Sierra Leoneans were crossing the border to flee the operation, an official told Associated Press.

Sierra Leone government spokesman Theo Nicol said the two countries had agreed to police the border so people with Ebola symptoms did not cross.

Since the Ebola outbreak began more than 24,000 people in nine countries have been infected with the virus, and over 10,000 of them have died.

The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak an international health emergency.

WHO officials said a coordinated international response was essential to stop and reverse the spread of the virus.

The announcement came after experts convened a two-day emergency meeting in Switzerland.

The WHO has declared the spread of Ebola in West Africa an international health emergency

The WHO has declared the spread of Ebola in West Africa an international health emergency (photo Getty Images)

So far more than 960 people have died from Ebola in West Africa this year.

The WHO said the outbreak was an “extraordinary event”.

“The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus,” the UN health agency said in a statement.

More than 1,700 cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan appealed for help for the countries hit by the “most complex outbreak in the four decades of this disease”.

Dr. Margaret Chan said there would be no general ban on international travel or trade.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned over the spread of polio as the disease becomes an international public health emergency.

Outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Middle East are an “extraordinary event” needing a coordinated “international response”, the WHO said.

The WHO said polio outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Middle East are an extraordinary event needing a coordinated international response

The WHO said polio outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Middle East are an extraordinary event needing a coordinated international response

The agency recommends citizens of affected countries travelling abroad carry a vaccination certificate.

The conditions for a public health emergency of “international concern” were met, said the WHO’s Bruce Aylward.

Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director General, was speaking after an emergency meeting in Geneva on the spread of polio which included representatives of the affected countries.

“The international spread of polio to date in 2014 constitutes an <<extraordinary event>> and a public health risk to other states for which a co-ordinated international response is essential,” the WHO’s Emergency Committee said in statement.

“If unchecked, this situation could result in failure to eradicate globally one of the world’s most serious vaccine preventable diseases.”

“Pakistan, Cameroon, and the Syrian Arab Republic pose the greatest risk of further wild poliovirus exportations in 2014,” the WHO says.

The WHO lists Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Somalia and Nigeria as “posing an ongoing risk for new wild poliovirus exportations in 2014”.