Ban on tour to lift efforts to fight Ebola
Print Edition
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, starting a visit to Ebola-hit countries in West Africa, urged local communities to strictly follow health regulations in the face of signs that traditional funerals are still spreading the disease.
The secretary general arrived in Liberia yesterday at the start of a two-day tour of four nations struck by the worst ever outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever, including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Mali.
The tour aimed to raise the profile of the efforts to fight Ebola and to thank the hundreds of organizations and thousands of health workers who have participated, he said.
“Our goal is to see the last case identified and cured,” Ban said. “We would like to urge local communities that this is a temporary operation and we fully respect the cultural traditions but at this time it is important to abide by health protocols.”
Traditional West African practices — such as washing the bodies of the dead by hand at funerals — have helped spread the fever, which has no known cure.
The death toll from the nine-month-old epidemic rose to 6,915 as of December 14, the WHO said on Wednesday. The virus, which causes vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding in its final stages, is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of the sick.
Rates of infection are rising fastest in Sierra Leone, which accounts for more than half of the 18,603 confirmed cases of the virus. Infection is spreading rapidly around the coastal capital Freetown, where some aid workers say public information efforts have lagged.
Sierra Leone launched “Operation Western Area Surge” this week to contain the outbreak — with health workers passing street by street looking for the sick.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
