Voters in Liberia are going to the polls in an election that was postponed in October because of the Ebola outbreak which ravaged the country.

Liberians are choosing representatives to the country's senate.

Among the 139 candidates vying for 15 seats are former football star George Weah and Robert Sirleaf, the son of Liberia's president.

Ebola has infected about 19,000 people in West Africa, killing more than 7,300 - with about 3,340 deaths in Liberia.

The senate elections were postponed in October in a bid to stop campaigners and voters spreading the virus.

The election is being held just days after neighbouring Sierra Leone clamped down on public gatherings.

It has banned Sunday trading, restricted travel between districts and prohibited public celebrations over Christmas and the New Year.

A crowd follows former soccer player George Weah as he campaigns for a senate seat in Monrovia

Suspected Ebola patients are kept in quarantine at medical centres

 

One of Sierra Leone's top doctors, Victor Willoughby, died from Ebola on Thursday, just hours after the arrival of experimental drug ZMab which could have been used to treat him.

Healthcare workers are among those most at risk of catching Ebola because it is spread by bodily fluids and requires close contact with victims.

In November Liberia's election commission chairman, Jerome Korkoya, urged candidates and supporters to follow public health regulations in the run-up to the senate elections.

"For instance, the transportation of large groups of electorates by candidates clustered in vehicles and the congregation of huge number of people will be regulated," he said in a statement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was in Liberia on Friday at the start of a two-day visit to countries affected by Ebola in West Africa. 

After stepping off the plane, he washed his hands and had his temperature taken - two important practices to help stop the spread of the disease.

Mr Ban urged people to follow strict health regulations until the epidemic was over.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf lifted a state of emergency last month that was imposed in August to control the outbreak.

It came after the WHO said there was "some evidence" that the number of cases in Liberia was "no longer increasing".