The deadly Ebola virus is back into the Freetown, Sierra Leone. The news was announced by health authorities on yesterday dashing hopes of about 1.2 million people residing in densely-populated Freetown.
The government’s National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) on Tuesday recorded three cases that emerged in the east-end slum of Magazine Wharf, three weeks after the last known infections in the capital.
The Health officials had said that six people have been under observation since the first of the new cases.
Authorities are concerned that the case could lead to a mini-outbreak in the overcrowded fishing community, which has poor sanitation and is regularly hit by outbreaks of malaria and cholera.
Liberia was declared Ebola-free in May, but hopes that neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea would quickly follow suit have been dashed recently, with the weekly toll of infections in the two countries hovering around 25.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned earlier this month that the retreat of the virus “that was apparent throughout April and early May has stalled”.
According to the WHO, as of June 21, there had been 27,443 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, of which 11,207 were fatal.
Sierra Leone has seen almost half of the total caseload, reporting more than 3,900 deaths.
The awareness of the deadly virus is still on, and prevention to this virus should be adhered by all.
