50 people quarantinee after newEbola death in S. Leone

Fifty people have been placed in
quarantine in northern Sierra Leone
after the death of a middle-aged
woman from the Ebola virus, medical
officials said Tuesday, in a setback
for the country’s bid to gain Ebola-
free status.
“We are conducting an
epidemiological investigation to trace
the extent of the transmission” as
the woman ho died was sick for 5-10
days without the authorities being
alerted, Ibrahim Sesay of the National
Ebola Response Centre (NERC) told a
local radio station.
Given the 50 people identified as at
high-risk “we should not be surprised
if we see new cases coming out,”
from the new case
identified in the village of Sella Kafta
in the northern district of Kambia, he
said.
“Ebola is like the main actor in an
horror film. Defeat the actor and he
is likely to get up again,” Sesay
added.
There had been celebratory scenes
last week when the country’s last
known Ebola patient was released
from hospital in the central city of
Makeni after being cured of the virus,
raising hopes the west African nation
may finally have beaten the
devastating epidemic.
The latest victim had not travelled to
either Liberia or Guinea, two other
countries also blindsided by the
worst outbreak of Ebola in history,
which has killed some 11,300 people
since first emerging in December
2013 in Guinea.
News of the new Ebola death came
as a new school year got underway
Monday, with measures in place to
try prevent the spread of the virus.
Children’s temperatures were being
checked at many schools, and
students were directed towards
buckets of chlorine to wash their
hands.
Schools were closed for more than
eight months at the height of the
Ebola outbreak.
Reports from Kambia said community
leaders and residents remained “in a
state of shock” over the news.
An elder and long time resident in
Sella Kafta, Sampha Mansaray told
AFP by phone that “the community is
in mourning over the death.”
“We have been thorough in observing
all restrictions to keep Ebola out of
our community but we have now
failed the rest of the country by
being the place that has halted the
countdown” towards Ebola-free
status, the 60-year-old farmer
lamented.