As boxes of an experimental Ebola drugs arrive in Liberia, Guinea’s president declared the deadly Ebola outbreak a “health emergency” and announced a series of measures to try to help healthcare workers slow the killer virus’ spread.

“The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over Ebola.  Considering that Guinea is a signatory to the WHO constitution, I declare Ebola a national health emergency in Guinea,” Guinean President Alpha Conde said in a statement read on state television.

President Conde announced a series of measures.  They include stricter controls at border points; a ban on moving bodies “from one town to another until the end of the epidemic”; and mandating that all suspected patients stay in hospital at least until laboratory results are obtained confirming their infection status.

Most controversially, Conde approved what amounts to house arrest for civilians who had been in contact with Ebola victims.  They are “formally banned from leaving their homes until the end of their surveillance period.”

Meanwhile, a consignment of ZMapp, the experimental drug that might have saved the lives of two American volunteers, has arrived in Liberia.  It likely will be first administered to doctors Zukunis Ireland and Abraham Borbor, both of whom contracted the disease while attending to patients on Monrovia, including a colleague who died.  It was also reportedly given to a Spanish priest with Ebola who later died. 

The West Africa Ebola Outbreak has killed 1,069 people.