Liberia's first Ebola patient in weeks dies

A patient who was confirmed Ebola positive earlier this month has died, media reported.

The 44-year old Ruth Tugbeh was confirmed positive of the Ebola virus on March 20, the first Ebola case after weeks of no new cases being reported in the country, disrupting Liberia's efforts to be announced Ebola-free.

Tugbeh died at about 9 a.m. on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported citing state radio LBS.

The patient was undergoing treatment at the Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU) that is managed by the US public health service after she was transferred there from the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-run ELWA-3 Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) near Monrovia a few days ago.

After she was diagnosed with Ebola, Francis Nah Kateh, deputy head of the Ebola Incident Management System, told journalists at the ministry of information's Ebola update briefing that the patient was in stable condition.

"Her condition is stable, she is receiving the best care, we are making sure that she survives to tell her story," Kateh said.

The patient allegedly contracted the virus through sexual intercourse with a male Ebola survivor but health officials have said the man has passed more than 100 days after surviving the virus.

Kateh also disclosed on Thursday during another Ebola update that another person was showing signs and symptoms of the virus and has been placed in isolation.

Kateh said specimens from the contact patient have been taken and that laboratory results will be made known when available.

At the same time Kateh told reporters that another suspected Ebola patient was extracted from the Clara Town community on March 23 and taken to an ETU for examination.