A view of the entrance to Dousseyni Daou Hospital in Kayes October 25, 2014. A two-year-old girl who was Mali's first case of Ebola died on Friday, shortly after the World Health Organization warned that many people had potentially been exposed to th
A view of the entrance to Dousseyni Daou Hospital in Kayes October 25, 2014. A two-year-old girl who was Mali's first case of Ebola died on Friday, shortly after the World Health Organization warned that many people had potentially been exposed to the virus because she was taken across the country while ill. The girl had travelled with her grandmother hundreds of kilometres by bus from Guinea via Mali's capital to the western town of Kayes, where she was diagnosed on Thursday. REUTERS/Stringer REUTERS/Stringer

The global number of cases due to the Ebola virus has reached over 10,000, with Mali as the latest nation to report one death. The presence of the virus in Mali has prompted Mauritania to close the border it shares with the other west African country.

In an update over the weekend, the World Health Organisation said there are now a total of 10,141 people described as "confirmed, probable or suspected cases" of the Ebola virus. A total of 4,922 people had died. Majority of the deaths were in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The first death from Mali due to the Ebola virus was a two-year-old toddler. She and her grandmother came from Guinea and took a public transport, a 1,000-kilometre bus journey, to get to Bamako, Mali's capital. Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, despite the first record death in his country, said he will not order the closure of Mali's border with Guinea.

"Guinea is Mali's neighbor. We have a shared border that we did not close and we will not close," he told France's RFI radio station. He assured his people and the global community that authorities had started to trace all people the child may have gotten into contact with.

It is believed the child had contact with 43 people. However, Reuters, quoting an unidentified health official from Mali, said at least 300 people are believed to had been in contact with the infected child.

But the WHO said the case surrounding the death of the toddler is being treated as an emergency. It was reported that she was already showing symptoms of the disease as she and her grandmother travelled for four days. From Guinea, the two passed through Keweni, Kankan, Sigouri and Kouremale before they reached Bamako. WHO immediately deployed a tonne of medical supplies to Bamako from Liberia late on Friday.

In Kayes town in Bamako, people have started panicking since news of the girl's death has started to spread. "We are in a panic - everyone is talking about Ebola," CBS News quoted Bruno Sodatonou, a 35-year-old restaurant worker. Kayes has about 128,000 residents. "We don't know how to protect ourselves. Some are now wearing gloves, while others are trying to avoid handshakes with people."