Ebola News 2/23

[Buster's Uncle]

AP Interview: Liberia leader urges help in post-Ebola phase
Associated Press
By ADAM SCHRECK  February 22, 2015 11:14 AM



Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks to The Associated Press during an interview in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015. Liberia's leader is urging the United States and other countries to keep up their support to the West African nation as it recovers from the Ebola epidemic and refocuses attention on infrastructure projects that will better position it to tackle future outbreaks of disease. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)



SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Liberia's leader on Sunday urged the United States and other countries to keep up their support to the West African nation as it recovers from the Ebola epidemic and refocuses attention on infrastructure projects that will better position it to tackle future outbreaks of disease.

In an interview with The Associated Press, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Liberia needs outside help to see through its "post-Ebola agenda" of building up basic public services — development that she said was needed to prevent another deadly epidemic from becoming "a global menace."

Among the needs she highlighted were power projects to keep hospital equipment running, roads so the sick can access medical facilities, and clean water to prevent diseases from spreading.

"Our own limited resources have not enabled us to take them to the level where they could ... be in a preventive mode. And that's the support we want," she said.

"The great lesson in all these things, you know, whether you're dealing with conflict or whether you're dealing with disease, is to emphasize prevention rather than cure. It costs so much when you have to fix it," added Sirleaf, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.

Deeply impoverished Liberia was one of the countries hardest hit in the West Africa Ebola outbreak that began last year and ranks as the largest in history. It has seen more than 9,000 confirmed, suspected and probable cases, and 3,900 deaths.

Liberia, founded in 1847 by freed American slaves, has long had close ties to the U.S.



A man is carried away to be tested for Ebola after collapsing on a street in Monrovia December 9, 2014. The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 6,331 in the three worst hit countries, with Sierra Leone overtaking Liberia as the country with the highest number of cases, the World Health Organization says. (REUTERS/James Giahyue)


Sirleaf was elected president in 2005 after years of civil war, and was re-elected to a final term six years later. She is in the United Arab Emirates city of Sharjah, near Dubai, to address the International Government Communication Forum.

She will travel to Washington later this week to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss the Ebola response and the region's economic recovery.

Sirleaf acknowledged that her country could have been more aggressive in fighting the epidemic at the outset. But she also said she wished the U.S. and other developed countries, with their better resources and expertise, would have moved faster.

"We were slow. The world was slow. Everybody was fearful. It was an unknown enemy," she said, adding that she was grateful for the international help — including 2,800 American troops deployed to the region — when it arrived.

That outside support helped bring the epidemic under control, allowing life to start returning to normal. Schools began re-opening last week, and Sirleaf on Friday ordered the lifting of an overnight curfew set up in August to try to contain the disease.

The president has also called for the country's land border posts to be reopened. Officials on Sunday held a ceremony announcing that Liberia's border with Sierra Leone was officially opened.



Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks to The Associated Press during an interview in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015. Liberia's leader is urging the United States and other countries to keep up their support to the West African nation as it recovers from the Ebola epidemic and refocuses attention on infrastructure projects that will better position it to tackle future outbreaks of disease. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)


The disease has not been wiped out entirely, though.

Eight patients who have tested positive are still being cared for in Liberian treatment centers, and eight health care workers in the capital Monrovia are being kept under observation after they came in contact with a patient who tested positive.

Sirleaf cautioned that more must be done. That concern is echoed by experts who have warned that recent setbacks in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone could imperil the regional effort to fight the disease.

In Guinea, where the outbreak began, 52 new cases were reported in the latest World Health Organization update, and health workers continue to face security threats as they try to trace contacts, discourage unsafe burials and educate communities. Sierra Leone is recording the most cases, with 74 included in the latest WHO update.

"Now's not the time to be complacent or to pull out or to ... stop the support. Now's the time to really intensify it so we put in those proper preventive measures to make sure there's no recurrence," Sirleaf said.

The U.S. is preparing to withdraw nearly all of the troops it deployed last year to help stem the spread of the Ebola outbreak. About 100 will remain to work with Liberia's military, regional partners and American civilians.

Jeremy Konyndyk, director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said more than 10,000 civilian personnel from various countries will remain engaged in the fight against Ebola in West Africa long after the U.S. military pulls out. That figure includes members of non-governmental organizations working on Ebola and United Nations employees.

"The civilian capacity that is now in place is several times greater than the military capacity that was here," he said in an interview during a visit to Monrovia. "We are planning to keep that capacity in place as much as it's needed."

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia, and Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone, contributed reporting.


http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-liberia-leader-urges-help-post-ebola-135848715.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone quarantines Ebola-hit orphanage
AFP  10 hours ago



People walk past a billboard with a message about ebola in Freetown on November 7,2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco Leong)



Freetown (AFP) - More than 20 children have been quarantined at a British-run orphanage in Sierra Leone after one of its staff was diagnosed with Ebola.

St George Foundation orphanage, on the outskirts of the capital Freetown, said Sierra Leonean employee Augustin Baker collapsed during a meeting last week.

"Augustin transferred to Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre and Ebola is confirmed. Four staff (were) exposed while assisting Augustin to hospital," said a statement dated Sunday on the charity's website.

The orphanage has placed itself under voluntary quarantine, with 10 staff and 25 children confined to the centre for 21 days.

The charity added that Baker, who is being treated at a British run and funded clinic, was "as well as can be expected at this stage".

The organisation, which has been in Sierra Leone for 11 years, says it has helped 175 Ebola orphans since the outbreak began in May last year.

One of the deadliest viruses known to man, Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting or the recently deceased.

The United Nations children's fund said in January more than 16,000 children had lost at least one parent or main carer to the west African epidemic.

The outbreak has killed more than 9,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea but the leaders of the three countries have vowed to achieve zero Ebola infections by mid-April.

Sierra Leone has seen a cumulative total of more than 11,000 cases during the epidemic which has raged in the region for more than a year.

The rate of infection has greatly reduced in recent months, and the focus of the response is the western area, including Freetown, where the crisis has yet to be brought under control.

The government launched a door-to-door search last week for Ebola patients and bodies it suspects are being hidden from the authorities.

Dozens of healthcare workers fanned out across remote parts of Port Loko district, east of Freetown, after a spike in cases attributed to unsafe burials.

The country placed 700 homes in the capital Freetown in quarantine earlier this month following the death of a fisherman who tested positive for Ebola.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-quarantines-ebola-hit-orphanage-153841261.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Guinean cleric charged with assault on Ebola worker
AFP  9 hours ago



Guinea's health workers wearing protective suits carry the body of a victim of the Ebola virus at a Ebola treatement center near the hospital Donka in Conakry on September 14, 2014 (AFP Photo/Cellou Binani)



Conakry (AFP) - A Muslim cleric who conducted the funeral rites of a suspected Ebola victim was charged Monday with assaulting an outreach worker who came to question him over the ceremony, a judicial source said.

El-Hadj Mohamed Soumah's arrest on February 9 led to demonstrations in the capital Conakry in which around a dozen people were wounded.

Demonstrators put up barricades, burned tyres and overturned rubbish bins before using sticks and stones to attack officers who responded with tear gas and baton charges.

A policeman on the scene told AFP officers had wanted simply to question the imam on the cause of death and the conditions at the burial.

"It is especially important to know that he didn't have Ebola to ensure the safety of his family and neighbours, including potential contacts," he said.

The judicial source, who requested anonymity, said Soumah's trial would begin on Tuesday.

Burial rites involving contact with bodies are among the main factors in the spread of Ebola, according to the World Health Organization.

President Alpha Conde has recently made several statements justifying the use of force to stop traditional funerals.

Guinea and its neighbours Sierra Leone and Liberia have registered more than 9,500 deaths since the epidemic flared up in December 2013.

Mobs have sporadically attacked health workers in all three countries after being taken in by a variety of conspiracy theories, often characterising the outbreak as a plot by the West to murder Africans and harvest their organs.

Guinea has seen the worst of the bloodshed and the situation is particularly tense in the densely-forested southern region, where the epidemic began.

In September last year, eight members of an outreach team were killed by protesters denying the existence of Ebola and denouncing a "white conspiracy" in the southeastern town of Womey.


http://news.yahoo.com/guinean-cleric-charged-assault-ebola-worker-174832848.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberians rejoice as Ebola curfew is lifted
AFP
By Zoom Dosso  10 hours ago



A Medecins Sans Frontieres worker burns pieces of wood on January 27, 2015 as a Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia is decommissioned (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)



Monrovia (AFP) - It is the early hours of the morning and bars in the Liberian capital are packed as revellers drink, sing and rejoice in their first night of freedom with the Ebola curfew lifted.

For long, miserable months people have trudged home in the evenings under tough restrictions to stem the spread of an epidemic which has killed thousands and devastated the economy.

But the country of four million is slowly emerging from the epidemic, with infections at a fraction of the peak, borders reopening, children back at school and now the night-time lockdown lifted.

In Monrovia, people feel like celebrating -- in their thousands -- and the night air is alive with music and laughter.

"Why am I looking at the time... Beginning tonight we no longer have to be running home. More drink, more drink," cries Samuel Crayton at a bar crammed with people still in their beachwear in the Paynesville area.

Liberia and its neighbours Guinea and Sierra Leone have registered almost 9,500 Ebola deaths since December 2013, although the real picture could be far worse as it is feared many cases have not been reported.



People play pool in Monrovia on February 22, 2015, enjoying their first night of freedom since an Ebola curfew was lifted (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)


The World Bank said in January the economic damage of the epidemic could run to $6.2 billion (5.4 billion euros), trimming an earlier estimate of $25 billion.


- 'We are free!' -

Panicked by the intense spread of the epidemic, Liberia imposed the curfew on August 6, initially from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am but subsequently relaxed, applying from midnight until 6:00 am.

The end of the lockdown was announced on Friday as the United States said President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would visit this week to discuss the gruelling task of economic recovery with President Barack Obama.

"I am very happy for this day. I could no longer make money. Usually on Sundays we get the higher numbers of customers but they used to leave (early) because of the curfew," bar owner Cecelia Yerkerson told AFP, some time after midnight.



Students stand in line before heading to their classrooms at Don Bosco High School in Monrovia on February 16, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)


"Now that the curfew is lifted you can see that they are still here at this time and don't even think about the time. So I am happy."

A few kilometres (miles) away, several young girls break into song as they wait for the waiter to bring their drinks at another bar.

"Free, we are free! No more curfew breaking! Free, we are free," they sing.

Jacqueline Dahn, 21, gets up and dances, shouting over the noise of the celebration that her newfound freedom feels like getting out of jail.

"For several months I have not been out at this time. It was like being in prison every evening," she says.



Medecins Sans Frontieres workers help decommission an Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia on January 27, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)


"I am very happy for the lifting of the curfew. I don’t know how to express my happiness."


- Profound symbol -

The restart of nightlife in a country that likes to party is a huge morale booster and a profound symbol of Liberia's recovery, but it is the reopening of border crossings that is most significant to traders.

Almost everything available in the country's street markets has to be shipped in from neighbouring countries and prices soared when crossings to Sierra Leone and Guinea were closed.

"I go to Guinea to import goods. I import clothes, rubber dishes and slippers. Since the closure of the borders I have been sitting and doing nothing," Monrovia trader Stephen Williams told AFP.

"I am more than happy for the reopening of the borders. I will resume on Monday so I can be able to send my children to school."

For cash-strapped shoppers in the impoverished nation, the lifting of restrictions could not have come soon enough.

"It is good to hear that the borders are reopened but the question here is when will we see the prices of commodities going down to where they were before the outbreak," Patricia Paye, 36, told AFP.


http://news.yahoo.com/liberians-rejoice-ebola-curfew-lifted-112442483.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Fearing Ebola, N. Korea bars tourists from capital marathon
Associated Press
By ERIC TALMADGE  14 hours ago



In this Oct. 21, 2014 file photo, passengers wait for their luggage upon arrival at the Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, before closing its door for foreign visitors to visit the country in fear of the Ebola virus. Tightening the screws even further on travel to their already isolated country, North Korean authorities have barred foreigners from one of the year's most popular tourist events — the annual Pyongyang marathon — because of ongoing concerns over the spread of the Ebola virus, travel agencies said Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)



TOKYO (AP) — Further restricting travel to the already isolated country, North Korea barred foreigners from one of its most popular tourist events — the annual Pyongyang marathon — because of concerns over the Ebola virus, travel agencies said Monday.

While no cases of Ebola have been reported anywhere near North Korea, the country shut out foreign tourists in October with some of the strictest Ebola regulations in the world. North Korean media have suggested Ebola was created by the U.S. military as a biological weapon.

Nick Bonner, co-founder of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, said he did not think the decision reflected any deeper problems in the North's secretive and often enigmatic government, though the news comes amid reports leader Kim Jong Un has called for increased combat readiness and, at a meeting of senior party and military leaders, described tensions on the peninsula as graver than ever before.

North Korea has been under increasing pressure from the U.N. over its human rights record and is facing new sanctions from Washington over its alleged involvement in the massive hack attack on Sony Pictures in December. Joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea that the North says are a provocation will also begin soon.

Bonner said more than 400 foreign runners had signed up with his agency alone for the event, which is to be held April 12. He said he was informed by officials on Monday that the race — billed as one of the most exotic marathon locales on Earth — would be open only to local runners. Another agency specializing in North Korea travel, Young Pioneer Tours, also confirmed on its website that it was cancelling its tours for the event.

Bonner, speaking with The Associated Press by phone from Beijing, said he remains hopeful the Ebola restrictions will be lifted by the end of March. Even if they are, however, the restrictions apparently made it too difficult for marathon organizers to be ready in time to deal with the influx of foreign runners.

Last year's race through the streets of Pyongyang, including a 10-kilometer (6-mile) competition and a half marathon along with the full course, was opened up to foreign recreational runners for the first time and was a big success. Elite runners from around the world are usually brought in for the main event. Bonner said they apparently won't be allowed in this year.

Known officially as the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, the race is sanctioned as a bronze-label event by the International Association of Athletics Federations and has been held annually for 27 years. It is held in conjunction with a series of sporting competitions, arts festivals and cultural events marking the birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, on April 15.

Since the Ebola measures were announced last October, visas for nonessential travel have been halted and, regardless of country or region of origin, all foreigners allowed in are technically subject to quarantine under medical observation for 21 days.

That includes diplomats and international aid workers, though they are allowed to stay in their residences or diplomatic compounds. Even senior North Korean officials returning from trips abroad have been quarantined.

The restrictions have been a disaster for travel agents.

Andrea Lee, of New Jersey-based Uri Tours, said 200 runners had signed up with her agency.

"We have not been able to run tours for several months. As a small business, it's been a difficult time," she said. "We expect tours to resume at the latest by the summer."

North Korea has made a concerted effort to bolster its tourist trade in recent years by setting up special tourism zones and developing scenic areas and recreational facilities. Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists visit each year, according to Koryo Tours, while tourists from other countries are rarer.

Bonner said the group that had signed up for the marathon this year was the biggest his agency has put together in 10 years, and would have been one of the largest groups ever. North Korea has already informed tour agents that it does not intend to stage another major event this year, the Arirang Mass Games.


http://news.yahoo.com/n-korea-bars-tourists-popular-race-over-ebola-024039291.html