West Africa on high alert over Ebola, says WHO
Geneva, Feb 18 (efe-epa).- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday placed West African nations including Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia on high alert, following a new outbreak of Ebola in Guinea.
In a statement, the Geneva-based organization said that local health systems are currently suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as recent outbreaks of yellow fever and measles in the region.
On 14 February, the Guinean Health Ministry told the WHO that a group of people contracted Ebola virus after they had attended the funeral of a nurse in the southern region of Nzerekore.
Seven cases of the hemorrhagic fever have been reported so far, five of whom have died, while the other two are being treated in isolation.
A total of 192 people that had possible contact with those infected have been identified, increasing the risk of the disease transmission as Nzerekore is located near Liberia and Ivory Coast.
Although there are border restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the significant levels of travel that have persisted pose a risk for the rapid transmission of Ebola.
WHO called on Guinea’s neighboring countries to assess their preparedness capacities and implement response measures to prevent the spread of the virus. EFE-EPA
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