June 2, 2015

Ebola will end in Sierra Leone in weeks, says UN official

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Tuesday 02 Jun 2015 - 11:26 Makkah mean time-15-8-1436

Dr David Nabarro (Google image)

New York (IINA) – United Nations' Ebola Chief Dr David Nabarro has said he believes it's only a matter of weeks before the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone ends, AP reported.
But he said that stopping the deadly disease in Guinea will take more time because in some areas unsafe traditions still triumph over what's good for people's health.
Nabarro said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that the Ebola epidemic "absolutely isn't over" though Liberia has been Ebola free since May 9.
"We have cases occurring, not in huge numbers but enough to be very disturbing, in Sierra Leone and in Guinea," he said, adding that the situation in Guinea is especially troubling because surprise cases have been popping up that are not part of known chains of transmission.
Nabarro is heading to Guinea on Thursday to review efforts to reduce the number of new cases in the country and neighboring Sierra Leone to "zero."
He stressed that Ebola is now confined to a small belt along Guinea's coast, noting that the forest region where the outbreak started has been Ebola free for weeks.
Since the Ebola outbreak was first reported in March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) said 27,049 cases and 11,149 deaths have been reported, almost all in the three West African countries – Liberia, Sierra Leon and Guinea.
According to the latest WHO figures, in the week ending May 24 there were 12 new cases of Ebola – 9 in Guinea and 3 in Sierra Leone, down from a total of 35 cases the previous week.
AB/IINA

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