Rwanda has reported nine deaths from its first-ever Marburg virus outbreak and confirmed 18 patients are in isolation, according to its health ministry.

Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment.

The Ebola-related Marburg virus kills around half of those infected but has been fatal in up to 90 per cent of cases.