The border between the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwandan city of Gisenyi has been closed to stop the spread of Ebola, witnesses have told the BBC.
It comes a day after a second person died of the virus in Goma, which is home to about two million people. A third person, the young daughter of the man who died on Wednesday, is also reported to have tested positive for Ebola.
Traders on the Rwandan side were not able to cross the border on Thursday morning, a local journalist told the BBC Great Lakes service.
They are angry because they say their livelihoods depend on being able to do business in Goma, a commercial hub and the capital of North Kivu.
“I am more afraid of hunger than Ebola, they should not close the border,” Ernest Mvuyekure, a builder who travels every morning from Rwanda to Goma, told the BBC.
The closure of the border comes one year to the day since this outbreak of Ebola was confirmed in eastern DR Congo.
Of the 2,500 people who have contracted the disease, more than 1,800 have died.
New evidence has shown that the outbreak may have started as early as April last year, and was able to spread undetected for four months.
