Eight health workers at a hospital in the Liberian capital have been sent home for 21 days of observation after being in contact with a patient who later tested positive for Ebola.

Assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said today that the incident occurred at the SD Cooper Hospital in Monrovia's Sinkor neighbourhood.

He said staff there treated the patient, a woman, before an Ebola test was conducted.

Mr Nyenswah said treatment centres in Liberia are now caring for eight patients who have tested positive for Ebola, a far cry from when the West African nation was the centre of the worst outbreak in history.

Yesterday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered officials to lift a curfew imposed six months ago and to reopen the country’s land border crossings.

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