Liberians protest as bodies of Ebola victims left uncollected

Ebola continued to take a toll in Africa on Saturday.

Riot police in Monrovia, Liberia quelled a demonstration that blocked one of the nation's busiest highways Saturday as an angry crowd protested the government's delays in collecting the bodies of Ebola victims.

Several bodies had been lying by the roadside for two days in the central town of Weala, 50 miles from the capital of Monrovia. Residents said no government agency had picked them up.

Nearly 300 Liberians have died from the virus, which is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of its victims, including touching or handling corpses.

The Liberian government has ordered that all Ebola victims be cremated.

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The charity group Doctors Without Borders has described conditions in Liberia as "catastrophic."

"There are reports of dead bodies lying in streets and houses," said the group's emergency coordinator in Liberia, Lindis Hurum.

At least 40 health workers in Liberia have contracted Ebola in recent weeks and most of the city's hospitals are closed, Hurum said.

Also Saturday, a Catholic humanitarian group based in Spain said a Congolese nun working in Liberia had died of Ebola.

The San Juan de Dios hospital order announced that Sister Chantal Pascaline died "from Ebola in the Hospital San Jose de Monrovia, despite the care she received from a volunteer nurse."

To the north, health officials in Guinea announced the country was closing its land borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone to guard against the illness.

On Friday, the World Health Organization declared central Africa's Ebola outbreak an international health emergency.]

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Cases have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, according to WHO.

It is believed that almost 1,000 people have died in the outbreak, which began in February in Guinea.

The most likely source of the initial infection was bats, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Ebola is a severe and often fatal illness, with between 55% and 90% of those infected dying, according to the CDC. Death rates in Africa have been as high as 90%, WHO reported.

Contributing: The Associated Press