Cameroon restricts movement along Equatorial Guinea border after "unexplained deaths"

Cameroon has restricted movement along its border with Equatorial Guinea following "several unexplained deaths" from hemorrhagic fever, the health ministry said on Friday.

The restrictions were imposed in "view of the high risk of importation of this disease and in order to detect and respond to any cases at an early stage", it said in a statement.

Investigations are underway and epidemiological surveillance has been strengthened with the support of experts from the World Health Organization and the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the statement available to Africanews added.

Equatorial Guinea said in a statement on Wednesday that it had registered an "unusual epidemiological situation" over the past weeks in its Nsok Nsomo district, Kie-Ntem province, that caused nine deaths.

Cameroon's health ministry issued a statement on Thursday saying it had recorded around 20 deaths in villages in Equatorial Guinea's Kie-Ntem province, which borders Cameroon.

The symptoms of the "non-identified illness" were nose bleeds, fever, joint pain and other ailments that caused death within a few hours, the head of health for the district, Ngu Fankam Roland, said in a statement.