Sierra Leone locks down 700 homes after Ebola death
Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone has put hundreds of homes in the capital, Freetown, under quarantine, following report of a new death from the killer epidemic.
"Some 700 homes have been quarantined for 21 days in the tourism and fishing community of Aberdeen in the west of the capital Freetown...after the death of a fisherman who was later diagnosed Ebola positive,” Obi Sesay, an official at National Ebola Response Center, said on Friday.
The mass quarantine came less than a month after Sierra Leone, one of the three worst Ebola-stricken West African countries, lifted travel bans.
On January 23, Sierra Leone resumed commercial activity, and eased movement due to a “steady downward trend” in new Ebola cases.
After the deadly epidemic began to wane, Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma expressed hope that “victory is in sight." But he also warned that it would be a premature victory unless all the three countries of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone would report no new case in 42 days.
The three countries have noted a stable decrease in new cases over the last few weeks.
According to the World Health Organization's Ebola situation report issued on February 11, a total of 22,894 cases have been diagnosed across the globe with 9,177 of them having died.
The Ebola epidemic has claimed roughly 9,160 lives in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea alone, the report shows.
According to the report, Sierra Leone, with 10,934 reported cases, precedes Liberia with 8,881 cases, and Guinea with 3,826 cases.
Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever, whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces, or sweat. It can also spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
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