Travel agencies in Dandong, Liaoning province, cancelled tours to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea after Pyongyang reportedly closed its borders for tourists on Friday to prevent Ebola from entering the country.

"We received information on Thursday afternoon that foreign tourists cannot enter the DPRK starting Friday," said Sabrina Wang, who runs a travel agency named Explore North Korea.

The Dandong company had to cancel all tour groups scheduled before the end of December, Wang said. "Our customers are mainly from Western countries. We mailed the 30-odd tourists from Italy, the US and Canada to inform them about the situation."