A new case of the Ebola virus was reported on Tuesday in Liberia by local authorities. To stop the spread of the virus, Sierra Leone has declared a state of health emergency.
Liberia was declared “free from transmission of the Ebola virus” on May 9 by the World Health Organization (WHO). But today, the disease has reappeared after seven weeks with no new cases. This is what AFP reports after an announcement by the Liberian authorities on Tuesday.
“A new case of Ebola has been recorded in Margibi County. The patient, a young man of seventeen, died and was confirmed positive before his death. He has since been buried, ”Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyensuah said. His spokesperson told the press that he had informed WHO of the situation.
Margibi County, where the virus was detected, is located east of Monrovia, far from the borders of Guinea and Sierra Leone. Without giving a precise figure, the minister assured that all the people who have been in contact with the patient have been identified and placed in quarantine. “We are investigating to determine the origin of this new case. We call on Liberians and all people living in Liberia to continue to take preventive measures, ”he said.
State of health emergency and curfew in Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, where 8 new cases were reported the week before June 21, authorities are trying to contain the epidemic. To put an end to the funeral rites, responsible for the spread of the virus, “anti-Ebola rules” have been established, explained Saturday evening Raymond Kabia, provincial head of the National Center for the fight against Ebola (NERC). “People caught burying or washing bodies (of sick people who died of Ebola), transporting sick people in vehicles, traditional healers treating patients and the families who hide them will now be liable to six months of prison, ”he stressed. The state of health emergency, which restricts gatherings, has been extended until next September.
In addition, a curfew, with compulsory confinement of residents to their homes for 21 days, has been decreed in areas of the country where the virus is resurfacing.
According to a WHO report, since the start of the epidemic, more than 27,300 people have been infected with Ebola, of which 11,169 have died, mainly in the three countries mainly affected (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia ).
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