2 cases of deadly Ebola virus confirmed in Liberia, health minister says; 1 dead

MONROVIA, Liberia – Liberia’s health minister says two patients have tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, which is already believed to have killed at least 70 people in neighbouring Guinea.

Walter Gwenigale told The Associated Press late Sunday that one patient was married to a Guinean man and had returned ill from a recent trip there. She died in Lofa County.

The second patient is a sister of the dead woman. Gwenigale said she is alive and has been isolated in a medical centre outside of Monrovia, declining to give further details ‘because we don’t want to cause panic.

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Guinea confirmed last week that several victims of hemorrhagic fever in the country’s southern region had tested positive for Ebola. Cases have also been confirmed in the capital, Conakry.