Sierra Leone to impose Ebola lockdown
Iran Press TV
Sat Sep 6, 2014 8:17AM GMT
Sierra Leone, one of the West African countries worst hit by the Ebola outbreak, will impose a four-day lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the disease, an official says.
Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, a presidential adviser on Sierra Leone's Ebola task force, said people will be prohibited from leaving their homes on September 18-21 in the West African country.
"The aggressive approach is necessary to deal with the spread of Ebola once and for all," he said.
The move is expected to provide health workers with an opportunity to isolate new cases and prevent the epidemic from spreading.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 2,100 people have already died of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. It also says two potential vaccines against the deadly virus could be available as soon as November.
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the worst hit countries, while Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also been affected by the virus.
The disease is also having a terrible impact on the economy of the affected nations, with prices of staple goods going up and food supplies dwindling.
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 be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
Ebola remains one of the world's most virulent diseases, which kills between 25 to 90 percent of those who fall sick.
SSM/HSN/HRB
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