The plan will also bolster efforts to prevent and detect suspected cases,
urge better border surveillance, and reinforce WHO's sub-regional outbreak
coordination centre in Guinea.
18.25 BREAKING The US has just issued a travel warning against
non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. They are also
sending 50 disease experts to West Africa in the next 30 days, the United
States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has said, according to
Reuters.
18.14 The struggle to contain the worst-ever Ebola epidemic in west
Africa is being complicated by the soaring cost of hand sanitiser, a leading
charity has said.
Mike Noyes, ActionAid UK's Head of Humanitarian Response, said the prices of
some hygiene products had gone up sevenfold, making them unaffordable for
many in the region.
"Hand sanitiser that they used to pay seven Liberian dollars for is now
50 dollars ($0.54, 0.40 euros), and that makes even protecting yourself a
huge challenge for very poor families in quite isolated areas," he told
AFP.
17.56 BREAKING An asylum seeker was suspected of having the deadly
Ebola virus after developing symptoms within days of arriving in Britain
from Libera, it has emerged,
Sarah Knapton reports.
The man, who was awaiting processing at an immigration centre run by
security company G4S in Gatwick, was feared to be carrying the disease,
which has killed more than 700 people in West Africa.
Immigration staff isolated the man and tested him for Ebola earlier this
week, but he did not have the infection.
However the incident shows how easy it would be for the deadly disease to
enter Britain through illegal channels.
17.48 Samaritan's Purse told
AFP when an experimental serum
arrived in the capital, Monrovia, on Wednesday, there was only enough for
one person and Brantly had asked for it to be given to Ms Writebol.
"Even as he battles to survive Ebola, this heroic doctor is still focused
on the well-being of others," said the statement.
It also noted that Brantly, 33, had been given a unit of blood from a
14-year-old boy who survived Ebola because of his care.
"The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who
saved his life," it said.
17.42 An American doctor who was stricken with the often fatal Ebola
virus in Liberia has taken a "slight turn for the worse," said his
Christian aid agency,
AFP reports.
Kent Brantly and another American missionary worker, Nancy Writebol, "are
in stable but grave condition," said a statement from Samaritan's
Purse, the US group for which Brantly worked.
"Dr. Brantly took a slight turn for the worse overnight," it said.
The group did not elaborate further on Dr Brantly's condition.
17.32 Reuters says the World Health Organisation is saying doctors,
nurses, epidemiologists, and logisticians urgently need to combat the Ebola
outbreak, which has been on an "unprecedented" scale.
In the flight against the virus, WHO will lauch a joint $100m Ebola response
plan to bring outbreak in West Africa under control.
17.27 U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Linda
Thomas-Greenfield said the spread of the deadly Ebola virus and assistance
for affected countries will be discussed during an African summit in
Washington next week. It will be discussed in detail during side meetings,
Reuters
reports.
The leaders of Sierra Leone and Liberia, two of the worst affected countries,
have cancelled plans to attend the summit.
It is unclear whether the president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, still plans to
travel to Washington.
"I have spoken to all three heads of state to get from them where they
see things going and what we can do to better assist them and we will be
discussing that during the summit," Ms Thomas-Greenfield told an
audience at the Atlantic Council.
16.40 The world aviation authority said it held emergency talks with
officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) to discuss the proposed changes, amid the worst
ever outbreak of the highly contagious disease.
"The WHO, ICAO considered passenger screening revisions to the WHO
document on travel and transport in light of recent events," said an
ICAO statement.
"These are still being reviewed by the WHO, which was also intending to
seek inputs from the World Tourism Organization and Airports Council
International (ACI)," it said,
AFP reports.
16.20 Previously it was written how to fight the virus, but
AFP have
produced this graphic about Ebola develops, its symptoms and what
preventative measures can be taken.
1
5.55
The threat of the Ebola virus to the UK is increasing, according to
Keith
Vaz MP. The borders to the UK represent the first line of defence
against this deadly disease, he added.
Keith Vaz MP, the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, has today
written to the Home Secretary to understand how prepared the UK borders are.
Mr Vaz said:
“I am concerned that the officers enforcing our borders
suggest they may not be fully prepared to protect the public from the spread
of this deadly virus.
"Prevention is not just better than cure, in this case it is
essential.
"I have written to the Home Secretary to ensure that we are doing all
we can to protect the UK on the frontline.”
15.42 Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres prepare to
bring food to patients kept in an isolation at an Ebola treatment centre in
Sierra Leone
15.37 Next week, there will be a gathering to discuss the crisis in
Guinea. The regional summit will see the leaders of Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Guinea and Ivory Coast to address the issue as increasing numbers become ill
and die as a result of the virus.
15.27 In Hong Kong, a densely populated city previously scarred by
disease outbreaks such as the 2003 SARS epidemic, health officials confirmed
they would quarantine as a precautionary measure any visitors from Guinea,
Sierra Leone and Liberia who showed fever symptoms, according to
AFP.
15.23 Togo-based pan-African airline ASKY, which serves 20
destinations, has halted all flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone
following the death of a passenger from the virus,
AFP said.
15.22 Japan's health ministry has sent out an alert to hospitals and
health organisations to be on the lookout for people with signs of the
virus,
AFP reports.
"In addition to the ordinary measures we already have in place, including
thermographies to check on travellers' body temperatures (at the airport),
the government is drawing attention to the concerned authorities," a
ministry spokesman said.
15.15 Local media in Kenema described a "grief-laden"
atmosphere weighing heavily on the town, with offices closed and markets
empty,
AFP reports.
President Ernest Koroma declared Mr Khan a "national hero" following
the medic's death on Tuesday, and named a research centre in Kenema in his
memory.
"The late doctor saved the lives of more than 100 patients before
succumbing to the deadly ebola disease himself," Koroma said in a
statement ahead of the funeral, which he did not attend.
Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders described Khan as "an
extremely determined and courageous doctor who cared deeply for his patients".
"His work and dedication have been greatly appreciated by the medical
community in Sierra Leone for many years," it said.
15.10 Sierra Leone on Thursday buried a doctor it hailed as a "national
hero" for saving the lives of more than 100 Ebola patients before
succumbing himself to the killer tropical disease,
AFP reports.
Umar Khan, 43, the west African nation's sole virologist, was at the forefront
of his country's fight against the epidemic, which has seen more than 700
deaths in Sierra Leone and its west African neighbours.
He was laid to rest in the eastern town of Kenema, where he had spent much of
his working life, in a Muslim ceremony attended by family, friends, local
dignitaries, aid workers and health officials.
"He was committed and dedicated in the quest to save the lives of his
compatriots," Health Minister Miatta Kargbo told the mourners.
"For the short time we interacted, he constantly described Ebola as a war
that all Sierra Leoneans should join to fight against or otherwise it would
be devastating."
14.32 General Secretary of the Immigration Service Union (ISU) Lucy
Moreton says the border is not prepared to deal with the Ebola outbreak and
staff do not know what to do if they suspect someone of being sick.
14.17 The WHO also said Nigerian authorities had so far identified 59
people who had come into contact with a U.S. citizen who died in Lagos last
week after travelling from Liberia, via Togo and Ghana,
reports
Reuters.
13.54 122 new cases were detected over the four days, according to WHO
data, between July 24 and 27
13.26 The World Health Organisation has
released
new figures showing 729 people died with 57 in four days.
1,323 are suffering with the virus. WHO says the new cases and deaths
attributable to Ebola continue to be reported by the Ministries of Health in
the four West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra
Leone.
13.22 Below is a map showing where in West Africa cases have been
confirmed in the region.
13.15 More detail from
Reuters regarding what the Sierra Leone
president announced earlier.
The president said police and the military would enforce a quarantine on all
epicentres of the disease, and would provide support to health officers and
NGOs to do their work unhindered, following a number of attacks on health
workers by local communities.
House-to-house searches would be implemented to trace Ebola victims and
homes where the disease was identified would be quarantined until cleared by
medical teams, he said, announcing a ban on all public meetings except those
related to Ebola.
13.13 This is an interesting graphic demonstrating how Ebola could be
one flight away from the UK
13.09 An American doctor who was in Guinea battling Ebola in June
has
written a
powerful
online diary. Here are some heartwrenching extracts.
June 2, 2014. Today was a pretty tough day - one of the first two patients I
admitted on May 30 died. I walked into his room and he was on the floor half
naked surrounded by bloody emesis and diarrhea. I put him back in bed,
bathed him, and put fresh clothes on him and as I finished he died.
It’s pretty emotional to bathe a 27-year-old man who was incredibly strong
and rendered completely helpless. His sister is next door and will likely
die in the next hour. This is all in front of the other patients in the
room, many of whom are family members or neighbors. The despair is
suffocating. My computer is running out of batteries. Sorry, more to come.
June 3, 2014. Unfortunately we also have an 18-year-old woman who is 5
months pregnant, has Ebola, and malaria. I thought being 18 was tough - I
can only imagine being pregnant, infected with a near uniformly fatal virus,
having malaria, and being in an isolation zone treated with people in space
suits. The clinical course of pregnant woman with Ebola is not good, to say
the least, and unfortunately she began having contractions overnight and we
“helped” her deliver a non-viable fetus this morning. Miserable.
13.05 The World Health Organisation is trying to calm fears about
flying and Ebola, reports
Mike Pflanz.
While travellers should be aware of Ebola, they will not contract the
highly-contagious, often fatal disease unless they actually touch someone
who is showing active symptom...
WHO has also warned health workers deployed by relief organizations to
strictly apply infection control measures recommended by the Geneva-UN
health agency as there is currently no specific treatment to cure the
disease.
Readers can find the
full
statement here and
FAQs
here.
13.00 BBC presenter Pier Edwards reports the Sierra Leone football team
is not able to fly to the Seychelles.
<noframe>Twitter:
Piers Edwards - <a
href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23SierraLeone"
target="_blank">#SierraLeone</a> barred from flying to
Seychelles for <a
href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23NationsCup"
target="_blank">#NationsCup</a> / <a
href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23CAN"
target="_blank">#CAN</a> qualifier because of fears over
spreading Ebola virus. FA confirms</noframe>
12.57 Nigerian fraudsters are apparently claiming they can cure Ebola
if it breaks out there, reports
Mike Pflanz.
Lagos State Government has warned the public to be wary of some pastors who
claim to have cure for the dreaded Ebola virus.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, specifically
advised the citizenry to be wary of the activities of alleged fraudsters who
were reportedly making spurious claims about their ability to provide cure
for the deadly virus.
He called on those who wanted to rip off members of the public to desist
from such claims of cure or risk arrest and prosecution.
“Only medical solutions are known to be appropriate for the disease,” said
Mr Ibirogba.
12.52 The British Red Cross will this week deploy two more specialist
delegates to West Africa as governments and aid agencies scale up efforts to
curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the region, the charity has
said in a statement on Thursday morning, reports
Mike Pflanz.
A health delegate and logistics expert are being sent to Sierra Leone and
Liberia respectively, to support Red Cross staff and volunteers raise
awareness about preventing Ebola infections. They will work alongside other
agencies and the Ministries of Health to reach more people in communities
affected by the Ebola outbreak.
British Red Cross spokesperson Mandeep Mudhar, said: “The Red Cross has
already deployed several teams and delegates to the affected countries since
the beginning of the outbreak. We know from experience that our health and
hygiene promotion work makes a real difference to communities and has helped
curb the spread of Ebola.
“Red Cross teams are taking to the streets and villages daily, educating
the public through songs and theatre performances, on how to respond to the
outbreak their communities,” Mandeep explained.
12.47 The boss of one of the charities pulling its non-essential staff
out mentioned earlier believes "thousands" could die, he tells the
WSJ.
"This is a growing crisis of proportions that will cost, we think,
thousands of lives and maybe more," said Bruce Johnson, president of
SIM USA.
"The international community has the resources and people to respond, but
they need to respond."
The newspaper reported "SIM will evacuate about 60 to 70 spouses,
children and other nonmedical staff in the next few days, Mr. Johnson said".
12.19 Kenya and Ethiopia, home to some of Africa's largest transport
hubs, said they had boosted measures to combat possible Ebola cases arriving
in their countries.
Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a statement that "port
health services are on standby, with enhanced screening at border points to
prevent and contain any possible disease threat".
Meanwhile Ethiopia Airlines said it was taking "extraordinary precautions
in connection with the outbreak of the disease".
Ethiopia's national carrier is a major airline connecting countries across
Africa, as well as flying to the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
"Stringent and specific surveillance is being carried out regarding all
flights from west Africa at Addis Ababa airport," the airline said in a
statement, writes
AFP.
12.08 The European Union is equipped and ready to treat victims should
the deadly virus be found in its 28 member states, an EU source said in
Brussels to
AFP.
11.56 According to CBS News's Debora Patta, the numbers of those killed
has increased.
<noframe>Twitter:
Debora Patta - <a
href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23EbolaOutbreak"
target="_blank">#EbolaOutbreak</a> World Health Organisation
confirms over 1300 known infections and over 700 deaths from the deadly
virus</noframe>
11.40 While treating patients, medics must wear an all-encompassing
plastic yellow body suit, along with two face masks, two pairs of gloves, a
plastic apron and medical scrubs, writes
Colin Freeman. In Sierra
Leone’s humid tropical heat – temperatures at this time of year are around
80F – those wearing the suits have to be careful not to pass out from the
heat.
“The protective equipment is very hot to wear and incredibly claustrophobic
– I once tried working in it in the heat of midday and could barely last 15
minutes,” said Dr Black. “Most of the time we try to start very early in the
morning before the sun comes up, and even then the goggles eventually become
misted over.”
11.35 Interesting fact from David Heymann, a professor of infectious
disease epidemiology and head of global health security at Britain's Royal
Institute of International Affairs via
Reuters.
Mr Heymann noted the only case in which an Ebola case was known to have left
Africa and made it to Europe via air travel was in 1994 when a Swiss
zoologist became infected with the virus after dissecting a chimpanzee in
Ivory Coast.
The woman was isolated in a Swiss hospital and discharged after two weeks
without infecting anyone else.
11.28 France “has the means to deal with Ebola,” according to the
health minister, Marisol Touraine
.
Amid growing anxiety about the possibility that the virus could come to
France, which has close links with its former colonies in west Africa, Ms
Touraine said the country’s health service was prepared to tackle the
threat.
Speaking after the international medical aid organisation Médecins Sans
Frontières warned of an “epidemic out of control”, Ms Touraine told the
newspaper Le Parisien there was little risk of it spreading to France.
“At the moment, the risk of the virus coming to Europe or to France is low,”
Ms Touraine insisted. “We are taking steps so that our country won’t be
affected.”
However, she called for “vigilance” and said France was emphasising
“prevention”.
“We have placed the health warning services on alert so that health workers
know how to diagnose and deal with any patient suffering from fever who has
just returned from one of the countries affected by the epidemic,” she said.
11.20 Sierra Leone's president has also banned all public meetings not
related to Ebola and launched house-to-house searches to trace and
quarantine suspected patients in Ebola hot-spots,
AFP reports.
11.13 Colin Freeman spoke to the British doctor, Benjamin Black,
fighting the devastating Ebola outbreak in west Africa who said belief in
witchcraft is hampering the fight to stop the spread of the deadly disease.
Benjamin Black, 32, a volunteer with the charity Médecins Sans Frontières
in Sierra Leone, said some of those in infected areas were not seeking
medical treatment as they thought the disease was the work of sorcerers.
Belief in witchcraft and traditional medicine is still prevalent in parts
of west Africa, particularly the remote rural areas of Sierra Leone, Guinea
and Liberia where the outbreak has been concentrated.oncentrated.
Dr Black, who completed a four-day stint earlier this week at an Ebola
treatment clinic in Kailahun, near Sierra Leone’s northern border with
Guinea, said: “There is a section of population here who simply don’t
believe Ebola is real, they think it is witchcraft and so they don’t come to
the treatment centres.
11.04 This an interesting short video from
AFP explaining how
Ebola is spread and where the origins of its name comes from.
10.49 Lewis G Brown, Liberian minister of information, told
BBC
Newsday the country was urging more cases to be reported rather than
hidden.
We are continuing with increased levels of public sensitisation and
awareness...Frankly the security forces have provided standing orders to
carry out the strategy of containment of the virus. To be able to contain it
means you have to have less and less movement of people, people need to
practice proper hygiene and be aware.
We live in a part of the world where we are still touching the bodies to
bury them - and we need to try to make sure people understand. We have to
restrict how people interact with the dead. We know how difficult it is. If
we have to contain the virus and report no new cases, which is the
objective, we have to deal with that as well....
We must report cases rather than hide cases. Initially, even up to now, we
have been treated with a sense of denial, but as the disease has spread
people have begun to take it seriously. We need to continue to build public
awareness.
10.34 The South African health minister said the department is using
thermal scanners in O.R. Tambo International Airport, the country's largest,
to detect travellers with raised temperatures in order to prevent people
with ebola from entering the country,
Stephanie Findlay reports from
Pretoria, according to
News24 and
AFP.
10.30 Metro has this
interview
with an NHS doctor who volunteers in Sierra Leone after giving up his job.
In the report, he calls on the world to "wake up" to the
increasing threat of Ebola.
Benjamin Black tells the newspaper: "It’s a major concern, what might
happen in the rest of the world. The main challenge here, though, is that
the health authorities just don’t have the infrastructure to cope.
"They’re overwhelmed."
10.11 Earlier it was reported the US Peace Corps was pulling out of
West Africa but now the
Wall
Street Journal is reporting SIM USA, a North Carolina missionary
group providing assistance to those suffering with Ebola in Liberia, and
Samaritan's Purse, are evacuating workers.
Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief organisation from the same state,
according to
WSJ.
The newspaper reports "they were evacuating nonessential personnel due to
the spread of the virus, as well as security issues".
09.50 David Chazan in
Paris reports the country's health
minister claims France is capable of dealing with the threat of Ebola and
the risk that it will spread to France or Europe is low, but called for
vigilance.
Yesterday the European Commission said it would give 2 billion euros in
additional aid to help to contain the disease in west Africa.
“We will take steps to make sure that our country is not affected,” the French
minister promised, speaking after the warnings in Britain.
09.47 Airlines Association, IATA, says the World Health Organisation
(WHO) is not recommending any travel restrictions or border closures due to
Ebola outbreak.
The association added in the rare event of an Ebola sufferer travelling by
air, risks to other passengers are low.
09.44 "I hereby proclaim a State of Public Emergency to enable us
take a more robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak," President
Ernest Bai Koroma said in a speech late on Wednesday,
Reuters reports.
He added the measures would initially last between 60 and 90 days.
"All epicenters of the disease will be quarantined."
09.39 A spokesman for the Liberian government has sent a full statement
on the president's decision not to go to the US: "President Sirleaf
will no longer attend the US-Africa Leaders Summit next week in order to
coordinate the efforts of the National Task Force on Ebola.
"Government travels will be seriously restricted and limited to only
those that are determined to be absolutely necessary and critical.
"The Vice President and a few cabinet ministers whose presence are
absolutely necessary will attend the ensuing U.S. - Africa Leaders Summit."
Liberia immigration officers inspect the travel documents of Sierra Leonean
nationals at the Bo Waterside border post between Liberia and Sierra Leone
09.28 Hannah Flint writes about the symptoms of the disease.
It can start to show from two days after infection, but this can take up to 21
days. People are contagious for as long as their blood and other bodily
fluids contain Ebola.
Some of the symptons include fever, cramps, headache.
For a full list, read her article in full
here.
09.26 A spokesman for the Liberian government has confirmed President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, will not attend a summit African leaders in
Washington this week so that she can focus on the crisis and "lead the
effort".
09.13 Lucy Moreton, Immigration Service Union (ISU) general secretary,
has told the
BBC
Radio 4's The World Tonight her members are ill-prepared for the virus and
are "very concerned".
They serve on the front line; they are the first point of contact usually for
people coming off an aircraft and the concern is what do they do if they're
confronted with someone that doesn't appear well who appears at the border.
"There is no health facility at the border, there is no containment
facility, and until extremely recently there has been no guidance issued to staff
at all as to what they should do.
"They are phoning us up and asking 'what are we supposed to do, how do
we spot this, how do we protect ourselves?', and we can't answer that for
them just now."
09.06 Sierra Leone has declared a public health emergency to tackle the
worst ever outbreak of Ebola and will call in security forces to quarantine
epicentres of the deadly virus, President Ernest Bai Koroma said in a
statement,
Reuters reports.
The measures resembled a tough anti-Ebola package announced by neighbouring
Liberia on Wednesday evening. Koroma also announced he was cancelling a
visit to Washington for a U.S.-Africa summit next week because of the
crisis.
08.53 Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone President, says they will
quarantine epicentres of Ebola, and calls on security forces to enforce the
measures.
08.50 Reuters is reporting that the Sierra Leone President has declared
a public health emergency because of virus and has cancelled a trip to
Washington.
08.39 The US Peace Corps announced it was pulling hundreds of
volunteers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone due to growing concerns
over the spread of the deadly Ebola epidemic raging in West Africa,
AFP reports.
A Peace Corps spokeswoman said two volunteers had contracted Ebola after
coming into contact with someone who later died from the virus, but she
stressed that they were not symptomatic and were currently under medical
observation and being held in isolation.
08.36 Dr Alexander van Tulleken, humanitarian medicine expert and
senior fellow at Fordham University, has written an interesting editorial on
the virus which he describes as "terrifying". Here is an extract:
It has three problems as a virus: it kills its victims too quickly and
infected people are extremely symptomatic. So unlike, for example, HIV or
tuberculosis infections, where people can be contagious but asymptomatic for
years, thus infecting many others, it's easy to steer clear of people with
Ebola.
Secondly it's actually not that contagious. Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian
man who brought Ebola to Lagos, doesn't seem to have infected anyone else –
despite being extremely unwell on a crowded plane.
But we can't afford to relax.
You don't have to worry about Ebola but you do have to care.
You can read it in
full
here.
08.33 The scientist who helped discover the Ebola virus said the
outbreak in west Africa was unlikely to trigger a major epidemic outside the
region, adding he would happily sit next to an infected person on a train,
reports
AFP.
But Professor Peter Piot said a "really bad" sense of panic and lack
of trust in the authorities in west Africa had contributed to the world's
largest-ever outbreak.
The Belgian scientist, now based in Britain, urged officials to test
experimental vaccines on people with the virus so that when it inevitably
returns, the world is prepared.
08.30 Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are in the grip of the worst
outbreak of Ebola virus in history. According to the latest figures from the
Centre for Disease Prevention, 672 people have died so far from 1201 cases.
That number is likely to have already risen.
To put that in context, the biggest previous outbreak of the disease saw 224
deaths from 425 cases, and there have only been 2,300 deaths from all
previous outbreaks of the virus. This outbreak, which has been growing since
January, concerns the deadliest form of the Ebola virus,
Zaire ebolavirus.
Mark Oliver and
Joel Gunter have produced this graphic showing the
numbers of those who have died from the virus since its discovery.
08.20 Welcome to The Telegraph's live coverage of the Ebola outbreak.
Much has gone on in the UK with the government's emergency planning
comittee, Cobra, meeting yesterday to discuss the potential threat to the UK
and Prime Minister David Cameron saying the outbreak was a "very
serious threat" to the UK.
However, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK is ready for the virus. "We
have a lot of experience dealing with diseases that are very dangerous,"
he added.
Across the pond US health officials warned Western countries they were just "one
plane ride away" from infection.
The disease, which can be fatal for up to 90 per cent of infected victims, has
now killed more than 670 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
2 Comments
