A fresh outbreak of Ebola in a part of Sierra Leone where
the virus was thought to have been contained has raised fears of a new,
uncontrolled infection chain that could send the death toll soaring.
A Red Cross ambulance team was sent to the remote district
of Koinadugu, which had prided itself on being the only area to have kept Ebola
at bay, from on Tuesday to urgently collect 30 corpses for medical burial.
The outbreak is a major setback for the Ebola response force
and the district, which two weeks ago remained resolved to control the spread
of the virus that has officially infected 5,338 people and claimed 1,510 lives
in the country.
Koinadugu has been operating a self-imposed quarantine for
four months, thanks to the intervention of an expat businessman, Momah Konte,
who returned from Washington and worked with local officials and tribal chiefs
to try to prevent the spread.
The Red Cross said an emergency burial team was making the
five-hour journey from Freetown on Tuesday to collect the bodies in the Nenie
chiefdom east of the district’s capital Kabala.
A spokesman said that there were reports of a further 25 ill
with Ebola and another 255 being monitored after coming into contact with the
dead and the sick.
(Guardian)
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