Guinea has declared a public health emergency over an Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 1,000 people in three West African states and is sending health workers to all affected border points, a government official said.

An estimated 377 people have died in Guinea since the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola began in March in remote parts of a border region next to Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Guinea says its outbreak is under control with the numbers of new cases falling, but that the new measures are needed to prevent further infection from the other countries at the centre of the epidemic.

“Trucks full of health materials and carrying health personnel are going to all the border points with Liberia and Sierra Leone,” Abou­bacar Sidiki Diakité, president of Guinea’s Ebola commission, said late on Wednesday.

As many as 3,000 people are waiting at 17 border points for a green light to enter the country, he said.

“Any who are sick will be immediately isolated. People will be followed up on. We can’t take the risk of letting everyone through without checks,” he said.

Sierra Leone has declared Ebola a national emergency as has Liberia, which is hoping that two of its doctors diagnosed with Ebola can start treatment on Thursday with some of the limited supply of experimental drug ZMapp.

Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp is also exploring the possibility of making more of its experimental Ebola treatment, chief executive officer Mark Murray said.

Nigeria, which has also declared a national emergency, yesterday said it had 11 cases of Ebola after a doctor who treated a Liberian man who brought the disease to Lagos fell ill.

Health experts say the responses of governments to the contagious haemorrhagic disease need to be calibrated to prevent its spread while avoiding measures that could induce panic.

The task is made more difficult because the capacity of health services in the three main countries has been stretched to breaking point and mistrust of health workers among some rural communities is high.

In addition, 170 healthcare workers have been infected with Ebola and at least 81 have died among the overall toll of 1,069 people dead, according to the WHO.