A slum cut off from the world in Liberia. The country which has been hit hard by the Ebola epidemic has lifted the quarantine of the township of West Point, which now follows the prevention rules in force.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not slowing down… and Liberia bears the heaviest burden. However, the country seems determined to fight against viral hemorrhagic fever. On August 20, the presidency announced the quarantine of a particularly reluctant Monrovia slum, West Point. This August 31, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf praised the efforts of its residents and announced the lifting of the military cordon.
A tense situation
The West Point slum, located by the sea, was cut off from the world for ten days. The Liberian government has indeed decided to toughen measures to combat the epidemic of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The resistance of the population of this township has earned it the most severe quarantine: military cordon, curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
But the public radio announced it, “the quarantine of West Point will be lifted” from this 1e September, 6 a.m. It is “on the basis of the neighborhood’s progress in cooperation with health teams” that the presidency took this decision. The Minister of Information, questioned by AFP, praised the motivation of the population, citing “the organization of follow-up teams and contact surveillance (of patients, editor’s note) as well as strengthened awareness campaigns and vigilance. “
The fight for prevention
Education and prevention are at the heart of the battle against Ebola. In the streets of Freetown, in neighboring Sierra Leone, groups of young people are also trying to educate their fellow citizens about the risks of contamination. And these measures are indeed essential: Liberia accuses the majority of cases of infections by the virus, according to the latest epidemiological point of the World Health Organization (WHO).
With four countries where the virus is spreading and a first case in Senegal, “the epidemic continues to accelerate”, does not fail to note the WHO, figures to the key. 40% of new cases are concentrated in the last 21 days. It is in Liberia that we deplore it the most: as of August 28, the country had 1,378 cases, including nearly 700 fatalities. Sierra Leone comes in second, with 1,026 cases, including 422 deaths. Together, these countries account for more than 3/4 of the reported cases.
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