News

By Mohamed Vandi

Former leader of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party says the three-day lockdown will worsen - not improve - the fight against Ebola.

John Oponjo Benjamin said “the consequences of such an action will be starvation, chronic malaria and other related problems” he said, and asked thus: “When people are confined for three days who will feed them, provide medicine when they are sick with other diseases, and fetch them water?”

By Allieu Sahid Tunkara

Acting US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Kathleen FitzGibbon, yesterday handed over five Toyota Land Cruiser ambulances to the government of Sierra Leone as part of her country's contribution to fight the Ebola disease. Already the US Centres for Disease Control is involved in the fight.

By Jenneh Braima

Chairman of the media communications committee on the Presidential Taskforce on Ebola says 21, 000 volunteers for the 3-day lockdown of the country will be trained in the fight against Ebola.

Ibrahim Ben Kargbo told journalists in Freetown yesterday that the volunteers would be trained to undertake the neighbourhood search and report all suspected cases of Ebola.

By Mustapha Kamara

A local civil society organisation has urged young people to support government’s efforts at containing the further spread of the deadly Ebola virus by complying with the three-day lockdown orders.

Executive director of Anti-Violence Movement in Sierra Leone (AVMSL) Bernard Conteh told journalists yesterday that they were working directly with young people. He said it was therefore their sole responsibility to ensure that young people were mindful of the dangers of the disease and to urge them to join hands in the fight.

Britain is to deploy troops in Sierra Leone to set up a medical treatment centre to deal with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, according to the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening.

The 62-bed facility will be built and operated by military engineers and medical staff with the initial phase ready for use by late October with work starting this week.

A doctor working for the World Health Organisation at the Kenema Ebola clinic has tested positive for Ebola and is said to be in a stable condition, according to a WHO press release.

The unnamed patient becomes the third doctor at the facility to contract the disease after Shek Umar Khan and Sahr Rogers both of whom died.

He has been brought to Freetown awaiting evacuation for treatment abroad. A WHO epidemiologist, from Senegal, also contracted the disease in Kailahun in August and was flown to Germany for treatment.

Dr Abubakarr Fofanah, health minister

By Crispina Cummings

Minister of health-designate has asked the parliamentary committee on appointment to allow him to mobilise resources for burial teams to deliver corpses without delay, “because I don’t want to see any corpse on the streets”.