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Sierra Leone Declares Emergency to Deal with Ebola

by VOA News July 31, 2014

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma has declared a state of emergency to help the country deal with the worst ever outbreak of the Ebola virus.

In a national address, Koroma said the government is quarantining areas where the disease is found, restricting public meetings, searching houses to identify infected people and updating procedures for passengers at the country's main airport. The measures will be in place for 60 to 90 days.

The president said Sierra Leone is 'in a great fight,' and that Ebola is beyond what any one country or community can defeat.

President cancels Washington trip

​​Koroma announced he will go to Guinea Friday to meet with his Guinean and Liberian counterparts. He also canceled a trip next week to Washington, where President Barack Obama is hosting a summit of African leaders.

Those countries along with Sierra Leone have been at the center of the outbreak, which the World Health Organization says has now killed at least 729 people since February.

The toll includes a man with U.S. and Liberian citizenship who died in Nigeria last week.

The WHO says the total number of Ebola cases in West Africa stands at 1,323.

More manpower needed

Doctors Without Borders is among the medical groups that have been trying to fight the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone. The group's Anja Wolz said it lacks the manpower to fully address the problem.

'We only have the possibility to work in the case management centers and we don't have the capacity to go outside. The situation is quite difficult. I would say, we are on the top of an iceberg in the moment because the contact tracing is not really functioning. This is one of the major issues what we have. Because, to find the patient as soon as possible and to refer them to the case management center, it's the basic for an Ebola outbreak.'

Liberia announced its own measures Wednesday to try to combat the outbreak, including closing schools across the country and placing non-essential government workers on mandatory leave for 30 days.

Peace Corps volunteers isolated

Meanwhile, two U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in Liberia have been isolated after potential exposure to Ebola.

A spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday the two "had contact with an individual who later died of the Ebola virus.'

The Peace Corps is temporarily removing all of its volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as a precautionary measure.

There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola, which can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases. The disease is characterized by fever, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches, and unstoppable bleeding from areas such as the eyes, ears and nose.

The Ebola virus is transmitted through contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person. Health officials are warning people to not touch Ebola patients and to avoid burial rituals that require handling the body of an Ebola fatality.