UPDATED: Malian nurse, patient die of Ebola

A Malian nurse has lost her life to the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in a case that is unconnected with the first incident recorded in the country.

Her death was followed by that of the patient she was treating, meaning three people have now died from Ebola in the West African country.

The patient, who was reported to be a traditional Muslim healer in his 50s, had recently arrived from Guinea, where Ebola has killed hundreds in the wake of an outbreak that began in March.

The government had confirmed the new cases very late on Tuesday, deploying police outside a clinic in the capital, Bamako, where the nurse was said to have been quarantined.

While calling for calm and caution, Mahamadou Camara, Mali’s information minister, took to Twitter to assure the public that preventive measures were being intensified.

Malians officials said the nurse treated a man who arrived from Guinea at the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako, and that her case was in no way related to the first case of Ebola in the nation.

On October 24, Mali recorded the first case of Ebola when a two-year-old girl who had earlier lost her parents to the disease travelled from Guinea to Mali where she lost the battle to the virus.

Since then, Mali had not recorded any confirmed case.

The 108 people under surveillance for having contact with the girl are due to complete their 21-day quarantine period next Tuesday.

This ravaging outbreak was first identified in Guinea in March 2014 before its spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, with cases in Nigeria, Senegal, United States, Spain, and Germany, all resulting in a death toll of nearly 5,000 people.