Tanzania's government said no-one in the country had tested positive for the Marburg virus after the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least eight people in the northwest were believed to have died from it.

Tanzania has pushed back against a report from the World Health Organization warning of a new Marburg virus outbreak in the country.

Tanzania has dismissed a World Health Organisation (WHO) report of a suspected new outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in the north-west of the country. On Tuesday, the global health agency said a total of nine suspected cases were reported over the last five days in the Kagera region, including eight deaths.

Nine cases of the deadly disease have been reported in the Kagera region of Tanzania so far. But officials expect that number to rise.

Following a World Health Organization (WHO) alert 2 days ago about a suspected Marburg virus outbreak in Tanzania, the country's health ministry said yesterday that tests on collected samples were negative for the disease. The WHO had based its alert on reliable in-country sources.

Marburg virus is a close cousin of Ebola, causing similar symptoms and spreading in the same way. It can cause death in up to 88% of infected people.

Marburg virus disease, caused by a virus from the same family as Ebola, has a fatality rate of up to 88% without treatment.

The deadly Marburg Virus Disease is suspected to have infected as many as nine people — including eight fatally — in Tanzania’s Kagera region, the World Health Organization said.