THE death toll from the world’s worst ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to over 670 since February.

    International and local medics were struggling to gain access to communities as many people feared outsiders were spreading rather than fighting Ebola.

    “It’s very difficult for us to get into communities where there is hostility to outsiders,” the World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dan Epstein told a news briefing in Geneva. “We still face rumors, and suspicion and hostility. ... People are isolated and they’re afraid.”

    Sierra Leone recorded the highest number of deaths in the past weeks.

    Epstein said the main focus in the three countries is tracing people who have been exposed to others with Ebola and monitoring them for the 21-day incubation period to see if they had been infected.

    “It’s probably going to be several months before we are able to get a grip on this epidemic,” Epstein said.

    Liberia became the latest West African country to seal its borders Monday after the worst-ever outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

    Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, where 129 deaths have been reported, announced that all borders were being shut except for major entry posts and the airport.

    On Wednesday, the country also closed schools, cinemas and nightclubs in a frontier region.

    (SD-Agencies)