Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Coulibaly Daouda, head of the epidemiological department at the national public health institute in Abidjan

The Ivory Coast announced Monday that it has banned all flights from countries hit by the deadly Ebola virus.

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The government said in a statement that it has forbidden all "carriers from transporting passengers" from these countries.

It has also decided "on the suspension until further notice" flights by its national airline, Air Cote d'Ivoire, to and from these locations.

The government did not name the countries but nearly 1,000 people have died from Ebola in Liberia, Sierre Leone, Guinea and Nigeria, which are all in West Africa.

The death toll in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has surpassed 1,000, the World Health Organization said on Monday. The UN health agency said in a news release Monday that 1,013 people have died in the outbreak, which has hit Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and possibly Nigeria. The updated WHO tally includes figures from August 7- 9 when 52 more people died and 69 more were infected. (FRANCE 24 with AP)

The government said it has also decided to increase preventive measures at Abidjan airport where "all passengers on arrival will have to have their temperatures taken with an infrared thermometer."

Ebola causes flu-like symptoms including fever. In the worst cases, it causes unstoppable bleeding.

It spreads among humans via bodily fluids including sweat, so can be spread by simply touching an infected person. With no vaccine, patients believed to have caught the virus have to be isolated to stop further contagion.

No case of Ebola has surfaced in the Ivory Coast which began implementing measures to prevent the spread of the disease in March.

British Airways said August 5 that it has suspended flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone following concerns about the spread of Ebola.

Dubai's Emirates Airline said earlier this month it was suspending flights to Guinea.

Pan-African airline Aruj and ASKY suspended all flights to and from the capitals of Liberia and Sierra Leone following the death of a Liberian passenger at the end of July in the Nigerian city of Lagos.

Chad on Saturday suspended all flights from Nigeria.

Officials said Sunday that Nigeria had stopped the Gambian national carrier, Gambia Bird Airlines, from flying into the country, alleging "unsatisfactory" measures by the airline to contain the spread of Ebola.

(AFP)

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