Guinea declared an Ebola outbreak that has killed 377 in the nation a “health emergency” yesterday.

Guinean President Alpha Conde announced a series of measures including strict controls at border points, travel restrictions and a ban on moving bodies “from one town to another until the end of the epidemic”, Reuters reported.

In addition all suspected victims will automatically be hospitalised until they are cleared of infection, Conde said.

As the region scrambled to halt the spread of the virus, Gambia suspended all flights from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The death toll in the worst epidemic of Ebola since its discovery four decades ago climbed to 1,069 yesterday, according to the World Health Organisation which said 56 people had died in two days. Nearly 2,000 have now been infected.

There is currently no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergency.