Authorities rushed to contain the possible spread of Ebola virus in Mali Saturday after the country confirmed its first case of infection-a two-year-old girl who died of the disease amid news she travelled from Ebola-stricken Guinea while highly contagious.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a day before that the girl was bleeding from the nose before she left Guinea, one of the worst-hit countries in the recent Ebola outbreak where 900 people have already died of the disease.

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The toddler reportedly travelled by bus across several towns in Mali with her grandmother, who brought her to the country after her mother died of Ebola a few weeks earlier.

The girl was admitted to a treatment center in the western town of Kayes Wednesday where she tested positive for Ebola. She was pronounced dead at 4 p.m. local time on Friday.

Health officials told WHO that the child was visibly symptomatic and had possibly exposed other people to the virus.

Initial investigation said the child had contact with at least 43 people, including 10 health care workers, who are now under observation. Health Ministry spokeswoman Markatie Daou said that as of Friday, none of those being observed has exhibited Ebola-like symptoms.

Ebola's incubation period runs from two to 21 days, so Malians still have a long wait ahead before receiving a clear, CNN said.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene announced it had stepped up measures to prevent an Ebola outbreak in Mali.

Meanwhile, the government is urging people to remain calm, citing that all people who are known to have had contract with the child have been isolated and are being monitored for possible infection.

WHO had already deployed 10 health care workers to Mali to spearhead preparedness operations as plans of sending a rapid response team are underway, Time magazine reported.

Mali is the sixth country in West Africa to have diagnosed its first case of Ebola. Nearly all other cases of infection and deaths have occurred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Neighboring Senegal and Nigeria both had imported cases, but have recently been declared Ebola-free. 

TagsEbola in Mali, Ebola outbreak West Africa