Sierra Leone said Monday it had launched an emergency
operation to prevent a serious spread of Ebola after two patients escaped for
several hours from a treatment centre.
A highly-infectious
32-year-old woman and eight-year-old girl sparked a nationwide alert by
absconding together from the clinic on the outskirts of the capital Freetown on
Saturday.
The pair, who are not
related, were tracked down at an undisclosed location in the evening and
returned to the clinic after radio appeals were made to the public, the
National Ebola Response Centre told reporters in Freetown.
AFP report continues:
"Our contact tracers and surveillance officers are meanwhile tracking the level of contacts the two would have made during the period of their escape," a spokesman said.
"Our contact tracers and surveillance officers are meanwhile tracking the level of contacts the two would have made during the period of their escape," a spokesman said.
The worst outbreak in
history has seen 27,600 infections in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, of
which 11,253 have been fatal, according to official data largely deemed to be
an underestimate.
Sierra Leone has seen
almost half of the total caseload, reporting 3,941 deaths as of Wednesday last
week, and is currently treating 10 patients.
The World Health
Organization (WHO) reported in June that a retreat of the virus "that was
apparent throughout April and early May has stalled" in Sierra Leone.
President Ernest Bai
Koroma announced in early June he was imposing curfews in the worst-hit parts
of the northwestern districts of Kambia and Port Loko.
They were the only two
areas at the time still reporting new infections, although the capital Freetown
has since seen its own flare-up.
The curfews had been due to
end earlier this month but have been extended indefinitely.
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