German Ebola fears

Following a meeting of a crisis unit working to stem the ongoing Ebola outbreak, Germany on Wednesday updated its travel warnings for the hardest-hit regions.

"It was decided that all German nationals who are in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are called upon to leave due to the still-critical situation," foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schäfer told reporters, adding that German medical personnel needed on the ground were "explicitly exempt."

German embassies and consulates in the three countries would remain open, Schäfer also said.

This latest outbreak of Ebola, which began in March, is the worst since the deadly and highly contagious virus was discovered in the 1970s. According to figures published Wednesday by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,069 people have now died.

Further deaths

Authorities in Sierra Leone announced earlier on Wednesday that a second of its physicians working to stop the spread of the disease had perished. Dr. Modupeh Cole was a senior physician at Connaught Hospital in Freetown.

"We are all very, very saddened," the country's chief medical officer Dr. Brima Kargbo said, adding that Cole was a "powerful presence in the country's medical team and has been [...] instrumental in the fight against the Ebola virus."

Cole's death follows that of Sierra Leone's leading anti-Ebola expert, Sheik Humarr Khan, who succumbed to the virus a fortnight ago.

In Nigeria on Wednesday officials reported the death of government staff member Jatto Asihu Abdulqudira, the third Nigerian to die from Ebola. The 36-year-old, who was working with ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) in Lagos, had been in contact with Nigeria's first Ebola victim, Patrick Sawyer.

Nigeria currently has 10 confirmed cases, with more than 100 people under surveillance, and has requested supplies of the experimental drug ZMapp to fight the virus. ZMapp has been used to treat two Americans who are still alive and a Spanish priest who has died.

Canadian authorities have also pledged to send an experimental Ebola drug to the WHO, which has approved using experimental drugs against the virus.

Travel restrictions

Fears over the virus' spread have also led to further travel restrictions, with the Reuters news agency reporting that Guinea-Bissau has closed its border with Guinea.

se/glb (AFP, Reuters, epd, AP)