S Leone emergency as Ebola toll 729
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SIERRA Leone declared a state of emergency and called in troops to quarantine Ebola victims yesterday, joining neighboring Liberia in imposing tough controls as the death toll from the worst-ever outbreak of the virus hit 729 in West Africa.
The World Health Organization said it was in urgent talks with donors and international agencies to deploy more medical staff and resources to one of the world's poorest regions.
The WHO reported 57 new deaths between July 24 and 27 in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Authorities in Nigeria, which recorded its first Ebola case last week when a US citizen died after arriving on a flight from Liberia, said all passengers travelling from areas at risk would be temperature-screened for the virus.
In a measure of rising international concern, Britain on Wednesday held a government meeting on Ebola and called it a threat requiring a response. The White House has also said President Barack Obama was being briefed on the situation.
But international airlines association IATA said the WHO was not recommending any travel curbs or border closures due to the outbreak, and there was a low risk to other passengers if an Ebola patient flew.
The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, for which there is no known cure, began in the forests of remote eastern Guinea in February, but Sierra Leone now has the highest number of cases.
Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma said he would meet with the leaders of Liberia and Guinea in Conakry today to discuss ways to combat the epidemic. He cancelled a visit to Washington for a United States-Africa summit next week.
“Sierra Leone is in a great fight ... Failure is not an option,” Koroma said in a speech late on Wednesday, adding that the state of emergency would initially last between 60 and 90 days.
He said police and the military would enforce a quarantine on all epicenters of the disease, and would help health officers and NGOs do their work unhindered, following a spate of attacks on health workers by local communities.
The moves echoed a raft of measures unveiled by Liberia on Wednesday, which included the closure of all schools across the country and a possible quarantine of affected communities.
Sierra Leone said passengers arriving and departing Lungi International Airport would be subject to new protocols, including body temperature scans.
Two regional airlines, Nigeria's Arik and Asky, have cancelled all flights to Freetown and Monrovia after an American, Patrick Sawyer, died in Lagos last week after arriving on an Asky flight from Liberia.
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