The deadliest Ebola epidemic
ever has now killed 2,811 in west Africa, the World Health Organization said
Monday, adding though that in Senegal and Nigeria the outbreak had been
basically contained.
The UN health agency, which
also published the results of the latest meeting of its Ebola emergency
committee, said a total of 5,864 people had been infected in five west African
countries as of September 18.
The disease has claimed 181
lives since the last death toll of 2,630 was issued on September 14.
Guinea, where the outbreak
began at the start of the year, and neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone by
far account for most of the cases and continue to see ballooning numbers.
Liberia has been especially
hard-hit, with 1,578 deaths from 3,022 cases.
At the same time “the
outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are pretty much contained,”
the WHO said in a statement.
Senegal has not reported any
new cases of the deadly virus since it registered its first and only case on
August 29 — a Guinean student who has since recovered.
And Nigeria, where 20 people
have been infected, eight of whom have died, has not reported any new cases
since September 8, the WHO pointed out.
The incubation period for
Ebola is 21 days, and double that time must pass without any new cases arising
before a country can be deemed transmission-free.
The WHO meanwhile said that a
meeting of its Ebola emergency committee last week had determined that the
outbreak remained a “public health emergency of international concern”.
The committee had reiterated
its opposition to general bans on international travel or trade, although
people infected with Ebola or who had had contact with Ebola patients should
not be permitted to travel, the WHO said.
Blocking flights to or from
affected areas and other travel restrictions only serve to “isolate
affected countries, resulting in detrimental economic consequences, and hinder
relief and response efforts risking further international spread,”
it warned.
The emergency committee also
stressed that in cases where measures like quarantines are deemed necessary,
countries must ensure that “they are
proportionate and evidence-based, and that accurate information, essential
services and commodities, including food and water are provided to the affected
populations.”
It also insisted that “adequate
security measures” should be put in place to ensure the safety and
protection of healthcare workers, who face high infection rates and sometimes
violence from frustrated and frightened populations.
Last week, eight members of
an Ebola education team said to include local health officials and journalists,
were found dead after they were attacked by angry locals in southern Guinea.
The emergency committee urged
the affected countries to ramp up their response to the outbreak and called on
all countries to strengthen their preparedness through simulations and
personnel training.
No comments:
Post a Comment