African
countries tightened travel curbs on Thursday in an effort to contain the Ebola
outbreak, ignoring World Health Organization warnings that such measures could
heighten shortages of food and basic supplies in affected areas.
In the
West Point slum in Liberia’s capital Monrovia, the scene of violent clashes
with the army on Wednesday after the area was quarantined to curb the spread of
Ebola, hundreds of people jostled their way towards trucks loaded with water
and rice.
Police
used canes to beat back some locals while aid workers helped others dip their
fingers in ink to record their ration.
“I
ain’t eat since yesterday. I have four young children and none of us eat. I
feel bad,” said Hawa Saah, a pregnant 23-year-old resident of West Point,
speaking in
the pidgin English common to this part of West Africa.
The
World Food Programme says deliveries of basic supplies to more than 1 million
people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are intended to avoid a food
crisis in those West African countries, where more than 1,300 people have died
from Ebola in the worst outbreak of the disease in history.
The
World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations’ health agency, has
repeatedly said that it does not recommend travel or trade restrictions for
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria – the countries affected by the
epidemic that began in March. Those countries are starting to suffer shortages
of fuel, food and basic supplies due to these measures, it warned this week.
Still,
Chad’s Prime Minister Kalzeubet Payimi Deubet said on Thursday his country
would close its border with Nigeria to prevent Ebola entering the country.
“This
decision will have an economic impact on the region but it is imperative for
public health needs,” he said.
Nigeria
has reported 15 cases – the lowest number in the four affected countries – and
the WHO has expressed “cautious optimism” that the spread can be stopped.
South
Africa said on Thursday it was banning all travellers from Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone from entering its territory, barring its own citizens.
GUINEA
APPEALS TO AIRLINES
The
precautions follow measures from commercial airlines such as Kenya Airways and
Gambia Bird which have suspended flights to affected countries, despite new
testing procedures at airports. The United States and several European
countries have also advised against non-essential travel to the region.
Guinea’s
President Alpha Conde met with airlines on Wednesday in an attempt to persuade
them to resume normal service to the country. “No Guinean has left the country
to export Ebola elsewhere. Even the WHO has recognised that Guinea’s measures
are sufficient,” he said.
The
WHO said on Thursday it would convene talks early next month on potential
treatments and vaccines to contain the outbreak.
Ebola
has struck hardest in countries with health care systems ill-equipped to cope
with an epidemic.
A
ministry of health report in Liberia, the country where infection is rising
fastest, showed 60 new suspected, probable and confirmed cases for just one day
on Aug. 19. Two of them were health workers.
In
an indication of the strain on local populations, security forces in Monrovia
fired live rounds and tear gas on Wednesday as crowds sought to break
quarantine restrictions.
A
15-year-old-boy receiving treatment for gun shot wounds later died, the medical
director of the hospital treating him said on Thursday.
The
WHO said on Thursday that an hemorrhagic illness has killed at least 70 people
in Democratic Republic of Congo but denied that the illness was Ebola.
Ireland’s
health service said it was testing the body of a person, who had died after
recently returning from Africa, for the Ebola virus.
-
Reuters
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