The World Health Organization or WHO has reported 16 new cases of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia.

 

The report also revealed that the epidemic has spread rapidly in Sierra Leone and Liberia with the former recording 34 new Ebola cases while the latter has 16 new cases.

 

The WHO says there have been 50 new Ebola cases in both countries since last week as the disease, among the deadliest in the world, keeps spreading in West Africa.

 

WHO officials say the outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea shows a mixed picture because of a reduction in the number of cases in Guinea, where no new cases have been reported during the past week.

 

The report says as of Sunday, July 7, there have been a total of 844 cases of Ebola in the three countries, including 518 deaths, as Liberia suffers the death of a foreign Doctor, who came to save lives but died while trying to save the life of a nurse that died of Ebola at the Government-owned Redemption Hospital in the Borough of New Kru Town on Bushrod Island, suburb of Monrovia.

 

The Head Doctor (name withheld) was quarantined at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Sinkor, Monrovia where he was being monitored up to his demise.

 

Health Ministry authorities in Monrovia have declined to reveal name of the Head Doctor or confirmed the death as all contacts made by this paper recently to get detail on the incident were turned down without any explanation.

 

The death toll in Liberia from the disease has affected three of the country's 15 political subdivisions, namely Lofa, Montserrado, and Margibi Counties. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has called on the citizenry to see the outbreak as a national public health emergency.

 

President Sirleaf recently warned close family members and other relatives keeping victims of Ebola Virus Disease in homes and prayer centers here that they risk arrest and prosecution.

 

"Let this warning go out, anyone found or reported to be holding suspected Ebola cases in homes or prayer house will be prosecuted under the laws of Liberia", President Sirleaf warned in a televised address to the Nation last month in Monrovia.

 

Ebola is spread through physical contact with a victim of the disease; besides, the virus can be contracted through: sweat, saliva, blood, by touching the vomit or urine of somebody who is sick with Ebola.

 

"I call on you my fellow citizens to protect yourself, protect your family, and protect your community from this deadly Ebola virus, by taking all necessary precautions", the Liberian leader warned.

 

BY ETHEL A. TWEH, 

Liberia