Liberia has registered 18 cases of the deadly Ebola virus out of which 11 people have so far died, the government said late on Monday.

The West African country's Minister of Health Walter T. Gwenigale told reporters in Monrovia, the nation's capital city that the number of Ebola cases in the country has risen to the latest figure from 14 last week.

Eight deaths were recorded in Foya, Lofa County which is near Guinea from where the virus entered the country, he added, noting the other three deaths took place in Montserrado County, the capital Monrovia, one in Margibi County and one in northeastern Nimba County where a hunter is reported to have died of the disease.

He said Ebola is real and is present in Liberia and that no one Liberian should take it as a joking matter.

Ebola virus is considered one of the most aggressive virus known to date in part because of its rapidity to kill, which can be within one week from exposure or three to four days from the first symptoms become apparent. This leaves very little time for any treatment to act and save a sick individual.