This article is over 2 years old

World Health Organisation had just announced ‘milestone’ of no new infections in neighbouring Sierra Leone when latest fatalities came to light

Two Ebola deaths and three suspected cases in Guinea 'flare-up'

Two people from the same family have died from Ebola in Guinea, the government has said, in the first re-emergence of the virus in the country since an outbreak was declared over in December 2015.

Ebola vaccine trial in Sierra Leone battles against fear and logistics | Kate Holt Read more

Test samples from the two patients “revealed the presence of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever virus”, the government said in a statement, while officials feared further suspected cases. “For now we have two confirmed cases and three suspected cases.”

All five were from the town of Korokpara in the southern region of Nzerekore.

“The health authorities have taken the appropriate measures to contain the spread of the disease,” the statement said.

The announcement came on the same day that the World Health Organisation said the latest flare-up of Ebola in neighbouring Sierra Leone had officially ended.

The UN health agency confirmed Guinea’s new cases. “Two people have tested positive for Ebola in N’zerekore Prefecture, Guinea,” said the WHO.

A source close to the local anti-Ebola co-ordination team told AFP that the two deceased patients were a married couple who had both shown symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea.

“That attracted the attention of local people who alerted the health services in Nzerekore,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The worst Ebola outbreak on record has claimed more than 11,300 lives since it first began in Guinea in December 2013.

Nearly all of the deaths occurred in the three hardest-hit west African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

While the WHO hailed the fact that Sierra Leone had seen no new cases for 42 days – or two Ebola incubation cycles – as “a milestone” earlier on Thursday, it also warned that a recurrence of the tropical disease remained a possibility.

“WHO continues to stress that Sierra Leone, as well as Liberia and Guinea, are still at risk of Ebola flare-ups, largely due to virus persistence in some survivors, and must remain on high alert and ready to respond.”

The WHO declared Guinea Ebola-free on 29 December, followed by Liberia on 14 January.