Outracing vows of aid, Ebola swamps the city of Makeni in Sierra Leone

[MHSC]

Sierra Leone crowds mistakenly celebrate 'end of Ebola'
Publish Date: Sep 30, 2014


Sierra Leone's government was forced to issue a statement on Tuesday denying that Ebola had been defeated, after hundreds to took to the streets in provincIal towns to celebrate what they thought was the end of the epidemic.

Witnesses reported crowds surging into the streets of the northern commercial hub of Makeni, chanting "Ebola is no more" and "Ebola has been defeated".

Locals said celebrations began late on Monday when a group of suspected Ebola victims were released from a holding centre with negative lab test results.

"This was misinterpreted to mean that the township was totally free from Ebola and the news, which spread like wildfire, sent hundreds into the streets to celebrate," said resident Moiwo Sesay.

"Commercial bike riders and taxi drivers honked their horns and people embraced each other while some kissed the ground."

Riot police dispersed the crowds and slapped a dusk-till-dawn curfew on residents, witnesses told AFP. There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries.

"It was a false alarm by some people with ill intentions," said local police spokesman Ibrahim Samura told AFP.

Makeni, 195 kilometres (120 miles) north of Freetown, is the capital of Bombali district, which is under quarantine along with four other districts as part of a lockdown of more than two million people.

The city has recorded some 220 confirmed Ebola cases, and 172 confirmed or probable deaths from the virus.

Witnesses said similar scenes of celebration unfolded in the northwestern town of Port Loko, the capital of a district of the same name which is also quarantined.

"The government of Sierra Leone has not declared an end of the Ebola virus disease... and is still very busy implementing measures already in place to break the chain of transmission and to eventually contain the disease, which is spreading fast across the country," the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The communique reminded Sierra Leoneans that the entire country remained under a state-of-emergency which prohibited public gatherings.

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http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/660255-sierra-leone-crowds-mistakenly-celebrate-end-of-ebola.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Outracing vows of aid, Ebola swamps the city of Makeni in Sierra Leone


<SMALL>Location of Bombali District in Sierra Leone</SMALL>
<SMALL>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombali_District</SMALL>

Outracing Vows of Aid, Ebola Swamps a City in Sierra Leone

By ADAM NOSSITEROCT. 1, 2014
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As the Ebola epidemic intensifies across parts of West Africa, nations and aid agencies are pledging to respond with increasing force. But the disease has already raced far ahead of the promises, sweeping into areas that had been largely spared the onslaught and are not in the least prepared for it.

The consequences in places like Makeni, one of Sierra Leone?s largest cities, have been devastating.

?The whole country has been hit by something for which it was not ready,? said Dr. Amara Jambai, director of prevention and control at Sierra Leone?s health ministry.

Bombali, the district that includes this city, went from one confirmed case on Aug. 15 to more than 190 this weekend, with dozens more suspected. In a sign of how quickly the disease has spread, at least six dozen new cases have been confirmed in the district in the past few days alone, health officials said. The government put this district, 120 miles northeast of the capital, Freetown, under quarantine late last week, making official what was already established on the ground. Ebola patients are dying under trees at holding centers or in foul-smelling hospital wards surrounded by pools of infectious waste, cared for as best they can by lightly trained and minimally protected nurses, some wearing merely bluejeans.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/africa/ebola-spreading-in-west-africa.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Outracing vows of aid, Ebola swamps the city of Makeni in Sierra Leone

Ebola: Sierra Leone hospitals running out of basic supplies, say doctors

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The UK has said it is committed to boosting public health provision across Sierra Leone, building at least four new Ebola treatment facilities near urban centres, including one in Makeni, a large commercial hub about 120 miles north of Freetown.

But with a 600% increase in cases, locals health workers say they can?t wait and are in desperate need of rudimentary supplies ranging from mattresses to paracetamol.

?We have almost no protective equipment,? said Adam Goguen, director of academic affairs at the University of Makeni. ?Hundreds of PPEs (personal protective equipment) a day are needed just to keep the primary holding centre stable.?
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Patrick Turay, a doctor at the Holy Spirit hospital in Makeni, said there was a desperate shortage of basic supplies, ranging from body bags for secure burials to examination gloves to mattresses and pain relief tablets.

He appealed for donations of surgical spirits, bin bags, alcohol gel and hard protective boots from size five to eight.

There is no hospital treatment for Ebola in the area, but patients are put in a temporary holding centre before onward travel to Kenema, a city two hours away.

?The situation in the holding centres is becoming desperate, as patients receive no care and Kenema is not accepting all the confirmed patients for treatment. But if we do not isolate them now we will lose all control,? he said.
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Makeni, capital of the Bombali district, was placed under quarantine along with four other districts as part of a lockdown of more than two million people.

Locals says there are rumours of another lockdown on the way as the government drives to contain the disease.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/03/ebola-sierra-leone-epidemic