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October 22, 2014

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West Sierra Leone sees sharp rise in Ebola cases

THE number of people infected with Ebola in western Sierra Leone — on the other side of the country from where the first cases emerged months ago — is soaring, with more than 20 deaths daily, the government and local media reported yesterday.

New confirmed cases of Ebola that emerged Monday in two Ebola zones in and around the capital Freetown numbered 49, the National Ebola Response Center reported yesterday. There are 851 total confirmed cases in the two zones, called Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural, the center said.

But there were no new cases in the eastern districts of Kenema and Kailahun, which previously had been an epicenter of the outbreak and where there have been 1,012 confirmed cases.

There was no immediate official explanation of what has caused the drop in reported new cases in those eastern areas. But Margaret Harris, the World Health Organization’s spokeswoman in Sierra Leone, said: “Definitely too early to say its been beaten there.”

A local newspaper suggested yesterday that due to the increased number of cases in the west authorities should quarantine the city of Waterloo, near the capital and located in Western Area Rural. The World Food Program over the weekend delivered emergency food rations to people there.

The west African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — where the outbreak first emerged 10 months ago — have been hit hard by Ebola with more than 4,500 deaths, according to WHO estimates. A few cases have also emerged in the United States and Spain.




 

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