Disease

Ebola Update - Liberia

Liberia's president has closed all but three land border crossings, restricted public gatherings and quarantined communities heavily affected by the Ebola outbreak in the West African nation.

Other measures include restricting demonstrations and marches and requiring restaurants and other public venues to screen a five-minute film on Ebola.

Sirleaf also empowered the security forces to commandeer vehicles to aide in the public health response and ordered them to enforce the new regulations.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf described the measures late Sunday after the first meeting of a new task force she created to contain the disease, which has killed 129 people in the country and more than 670 across the region. Experts believe the outbreak originated in southeast Guinea as far back as January, though the first cases weren't confirmed until March. That country has recorded the most deaths, with 319. Sierra Leone has recorded more of the recent cases, however, and has seen 224 deaths in total.