The authorities in Equatorial Guinea say the country had reported its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease in the same family of viruses that cause Ebola.
The World Health Organization says 16 people are now under quarantine as suspected contact cases. The health body has deployed a team of experts to the area to support health workers.
The country’s Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba earlier said preliminary investigations linked the deaths to people who attended a funeral ceremony.
Movement has been restricted around two villages where most cases have been reported.