Ebola sparks states of emergency across west Africa

MONROVIA: Overwhelmed west African nations called states of emergency on Thursday with the death toll from the Ebola epidemic nearing 1,000, as the World Health Organisation considers global travel restrictions to halt its spread.

Soldiers in Liberia´s Grand Cape Mount province -- one of the worst-affected areas -- set up road blocks to limit travel to the capital Monrovia, where lawmakers gathered to ratify a 90-day state of emergency as bodies reportedly lay unburied in the city´s streets.

Two towns in the east of Sierra Leone, Kailahun and Kenema, where put in quarantine on Thursday, a government spokesman said, as nightclubs and entertainment venues across the country were ordered shut.

Public sector doctors in Nigeria suspended a month-long strike with fears rising that the virus is taking hold in Africa´s most populous country. The deadly tropical disease has already killed two and infected five others in Lagos.

Ebola has claimed at least 932 lives and infected more than 1,700 people since breaking out in west Africa earlier this year, according to the World Health Organisation.

The WHO, which is debating whether to declare the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" at an emergency closed-door session in Geneva, is expected to announce new measures on Friday, including possible global travel restrictions. (AFP)