FREETOWN: Sierra Leone’s leader appealed Monday to the Ebola-hit west African country’s people to fight together against the deadly epidemic, warning that “the very essence” of the nation was at stake.
President Ernest Bai Koroma urged families to ensure that victims were reported to health authorities and asked every Sierra Leonean to take responsibility to raise awareness of the killer tropical virus.
“This is a collective fight. The very essence of our nation is at stake,” he said in a televised address marking a “stay at home day” aimed at recalibrating the state’s response to the outbreak.
Sierra Leone has seen 574 cases — the most of any nation — and 252 deaths since the virus spread from neighboring Guinea in May.
“We set up this day because of our conviction that, as a nation, the family is key to our fight against the disease,” Koroma said.
“As a government we have scaled down from other work to scale up the fight against the disease. We ask all Sierra Leoneans to scale up his or her effort against Ebola.
“In this fight every individual counts, for if every individual or family, community or town fails to act, the risk is increased for the whole nation.” Koroma declared a state of emergency last week ahead of a regional summit at which Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone agreed to a cross-border isolation zone at the epicenter of the world’s worst-ever outbreak.
Streets in the capital Freetown were empty on Monday as people observed “stay at home day,” called to give the authorities breathing space to reorganize the battle to halt an epidemic which has seen more than 800 deaths across west Africa since the start of the year.
Nigeria confirms 2nd case
Nigerian authorities say they have confirmed a second case of Ebola in Africa’s most populous country, an alarming development after a man who flew by plane to the country died of Ebola. Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Monday that the second person with Ebola is a doctor who had helped treat Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died of Ebola in late July.
Sawyer, who was traveling to Nigeria on business, became ill while aboard a flight and Nigerian authorities immediately took him into isolation. They did not quarantine his fellow passengers, and have insisted that the risk of additional cases was minimal.
Nigeria is the fourth country to report Ebola cases and at least 728 other people have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Vaccine not far away
The nation’s top infectious disease official says there’s hope that a vaccine against Ebola will be available as early as next July.
Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health says such a preventive vaccine has been successfully tested with monkeys.
Fauci tells “CBS This Morning” that human trials with volunteers will commence in September, and by July it should be ready.
He also says people shouldn’t have concerns that two infected patients were brought here from West Africa, saying they can be handled safely.
Liberia orders cremation
The deadly scourge of Ebola means people here no longer shake hands when greeting each other. In taxi cabs where people used to cram onto the laps of others, drivers now can carry only four people or risk fines.
Plastic buckets are selling at a record pace to people who fill them with chlorine to disinfect their hands.
And Monday Liberian health authorities ordered that all Ebola victims must be cremated as the virus blamed for killing at least 729 people across West Africa shows no sign of slowing down. At least 17 bodies have been abandoned on Monrovia’s streets in recent days, health officials say.
“This situation has gotten worse. We need our concerted effort, this country needs everybody right now,” Information Minister Lewis Brown announced Monday.
US missionary leaving today
A second American missionary stricken with Ebola is expected to fly Tuesday to the US for treatment, following a colleague who was admitted over the weekend to Emory University Hospital’s infectious disease unit.
A Liberian official confirmed plans for Nancy Writebol to depart with a medical evacuation team. The official, Information Minister Lewis Brown, said the evacuation flight was scheduled to leave West Africa between 1 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. local time Tuesday.
Writebol’s son, Jeremy Writebol, said his mother “is still struggling” but that “there seems to be improvement” and that the family is optimistic she will recover amid a spreading Ebola outbreak that has killed at least 729 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The Writebols’ mission team partner, Dr. Kent Brantly, also was improving Sunday after he was admitted to Emory’s quarantine unit a day earlier, according to a statement from his wife.
“Our family is rejoicing over Kent’s safe arrival, and we are confident that he is receiving the very best care,” Amber Brantly said, adding that she was able to see her husband Sunday.
Brantly and Nancy Writebol served on the same mission team treating Ebola victims when they contracted the virus themselves. Brantly was serving as a physician in the hospital compound near Monrovia, Liberia, when he became infected. Writebol worked as a hygienist whose role included decontaminating those entering or leaving the Ebola treatment area at that hospital.
