Number
of new cases per week has remained three confirmed cases
per week for
the past five weeks.
Hence,
three new cases of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) were
reported in the
week to 30th August.
Two
of the cases occurred in Guinea and one in Sierra Leone.[WHO]
The
case in Sierra Leone is the first in the country in a period of
more than 2 weeks, while the cases from Guinea occurred in or near
Conarky
the capital and may have generated high risk contacts.
No
health worker infections were reported in the said week.
Sierra
Leone
The
WHO is set to
vaccinate about 200 people who had direct contact
with the
deceased 67 year old woman from the village of Sella Kafta,
Tonko
Limba chiefdom in the Kambia district who died last Saturday
and
those that also came in contact with the direct contacts.
Her
death occurred 5 days after Sierra Leone began the 42 day count
down
to being declared free of Ebola. This was the first infection in
the
western Kambia district in 48 days.
Kambia
is on the border with Forecariah Guinea.
Voluntary
vaccinations were set to begin on Thursday or Friday this
week.
Head
of the National Ebola Response Centre in Sierra Leone Pallo
Conteh
has said that; The fresh case is discouraging and a reminder
of the
difficulty of battling Ebola, he also added that more cases may
come
up as a result of this victim.
Liberia
Liberia
for the second time has been declared
free of Ebola virus
transmission amongst the human population.
The
country was previously declared Ebola-free in May by the WHO
only to
experience a resurgence of the virus after about a period of six
weeks, which resulted in the death of two people and 6 community
cases.
According
to the WHO, Liberia has now entered a 90-day period of
heightened
surveillance.
"Liberia's
ability to effectively respond to the outbreak of Ebola virus
disease
is due to intensified vigilance and rapid response by the
government
and multiple partners," WHO said.
Guinea
Guinea’s
secretary-general for religious affairs, on Wednesday
announced that
Guinean
Muslims will not be allowed to attend the
annual HajjPilgrimage in
Saudi Arabia.
This
has been the case since the onset of the Ebola outbreak in
Guinea, in
2014 Saudi authorities banned Guinean Muslims from
performing the
Hajj pilgrimage.
According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola-hit
countries must be
formally declared Ebola-free at least three months
before the date of
the pilgrimage.
Follow up cases
As
at 30th August follow up cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone
had
further reduced from 600 on 23rd August to about 450 on 30th
August. More than 400 were located in Guinea while about 48
contacts
were in Sierra Leone and are associated with the latest case
from the
western district of Kambia which borders Forecariah
Guinea.[WHO]
Hence
follow up cases have since increased as more contacts are
registered.
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