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Liberia restricts movements in bid to halt Ebola spread
There is no known cure for Ebola, which begins with symptoms including fever and sore throat and escalates to vomiting, diarrhea and internal bleeding. The disease spreads through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids as well as indirect contact with “environments contaminated with such fluids,” according to the World Health Organization. It can kill up to 90 percent of those who catch it, although the fatality rate of the current outbreak is about 60 percent.
Liberia will keep open Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia and James Spriggs Payne Airport, which is in the city.
According to health experts, the closure of borders on account of infectious diseases is “quite uncommon” and generally is only called for in “very serious epidemics.”
The Sirleaf administration has established preventive and testing centers at the airports and open border crossings. Other measures include restricting demonstrations and marches and requiring restaurants and other public venues to screen a five-minute film on Ebola.
The administration has also empowered the security forces to commandeer vehicles to aide in the public health response and ordered them to enforce the new regulations.
In Sierra Leone, President Ernest Bai Koroma announced Monday he was heading to the east of the country to visit the country’s top Ebola doctor who became infected with the disease last week. Officials have said the doctor, Sheik Humarr Khan, has been responding well to treatment at a health center in the town of Kailahun. Khan has been described as a national hero for his work fighting the outbreak.
Health officials believe the outbreak originated in southeast Guinea as far back as January, though the first cases were not confirmed until March. That country has recorded the most deaths, with 319. Sierra Leone has recorded more of the recent cases, however, and has seen 224 deaths in total.
Source: Associated Press
