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.

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

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.

Tanzanian authorities deny Marburg virus presence after WHO reports deaths, with laboratory tests returning negative.

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

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets

The WHO reported nine suspected cases of Marburg virus, resulting in eight deaths across two districts in Tanzania. It suspects that the virus could spread farther as the outbreak region borders Uganda,