The lull was short-lived. While Sierra Leone thought he was finally free of the Ebola virus, a new case has just been confirmed in the country, according to Agence France Presse. Samples taken from a woman who died on August 28 in a village in the northwest of the country revealed the presence of the virus Ebola. This bad news comes as the last patient cured of the virus was released from hospital on August 24.
A team was quickly dispatched to the area of the death, and ten people who may have come into contact with the sick woman were identified for examination. “We are evaluating the need to place the whole village in quarantine if necessary,” said Sidi Yaya Tunis, spokesman for the National Ebola Control Center (NERC) on local private radio Democracy FM.
According to Afp, it would be a woman in her mid-sixties, who had not recently visited Guinea or Liberia, the two other countries heavily affected by haemorrhagic fever. She would therefore have contracted the Ebola virus on the territory of Sierra Leone.
In its latest report published on August 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that Sierra Leone had recorded no new cases for the second consecutive week. And according to the WHO, a country is declared free of the virus after 42 days after the last recorded case.
Since the end of 2013, the Ebola epidemic has claimed approximately 11,300 lives for just over 28,000 cases, 99% of which have occurred in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
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