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health-official

Fifth person dies in Guinea Ebola flare-up

A fifth person has died of Ebola in southeast Guinea since March 17, a health official told Reuters on Tuesday, raising concerns that a recent flare-up of the deadly virus could spread. The latest case was detected in Macenta prefecture, about 200 kilometers from the village of Korokpara where the four other recent Ebola-related deaths occurred, said Fode Sylla Tass, spokesman for National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola in Guinea. Burials, where bodies of the deceased are often washed, have been a main cause of transmission of Ebola, which has killed at least 11,300 people in West Africa since 2013 in the worst outbreak on record.

At least 25 migrants die after being picked up by Italian coast guard

By Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) – At least 25 migrants died of hypothermia aboard Italian coast guard vessels after being picked up from an inflatable boat adrift near Libya, the chief health official on the Italian island of Lampedusa said on Monday. Two patrol boats picked up 105 migrants late on Sunday from the boat drifting in extreme sea conditions, with waves as high as 8 metres (26 feet) and temperatures just a few degrees above zero, the coast guard said in a statement. The migrants then spent around 18 hours on the decks of the small patrol boats taking them to Lampedusa, buffeted by high winds and spray, and at least 25 died en route of hypothermia, Pietro Bartolo, the chief healthcare official on the island, told Reuters.