DHAKA: New York's JFK airport is to start screening to try to stem the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 4,000 people.

Passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - the worst-hit countries - will have their temperatures taken and have to answer a series of questions.

Checks at O'Hare in Chicago, Newark, Washington's Dulles and Atlanta's airport will begin in the coming days, reports BBC.

This comes after the first person died of Ebola in Texas on Wednesday.

Thomas Duncan had travelled to the US from Liberia, and was only diagnosed with the disease once he arrived in Dallas.

The latest figures released by the World Health Organization show the number of deaths attributed to the the haemorrhagic fever has risen to 4,033.

The vast majority of the fatalities - 4,024 - were in the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

In other developments:

    Passengers at some British airports will be screened for Ebola
    The Moroccan government asks for next year's Africa Cup of Nations football tournament to be postponed because of the Ebola outbreak
    Liberia's senate elections due next week have been postponed to help reduce the risk of voters spreading the virus
    The Ebola crisis has resulted in the activation for the first time of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. Its normal role is to provide satellite imagery to make damage hazard-assessment maps.

BDST: 1210 HRS, OCT 11, 2014