Guinea on Saturday said it was closing its land borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone in a bid to halt the spread of the deadly Ebola virus which has claimed hundreds of lives in the three west African countries.

“In order to better control contact” with people suspected of carrying the Ebola virus, “Guinea has decided to temporarily close its land borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone,” government spokesman Albert Damantang Camara said.

Zambia has also banned the entry of citizens from countries hit by the deadly Ebola virus, which is ravaging nations to the north of the continent, the health ministry said Saturday.

The ruling targets citizens of Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Even delegates to conferences already organised in Zambia would be barred, Health Minister Joseph Kasonde said in a statement on the ministry’s website.

“Ensure that all international events that may involve delegates (from) affected countries are postponed, cancelled or such delegates excluded,” he said.

Zambians returning from travel to Ebola affected nations would be thoroughly screened and quarantined if they were seen to be at risk of carrying the virus, the statement said.

World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan said in Geneva Friday that the epidemic in west Africa which has killed nearly 1,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria was the worst of its kind in four decades.