BARELY 24 hours after the United Nations (UN) through the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the alarm that the outbreak of fast-killing Ebola virus is getting out of control, the fear and confusion in Africa over the deadly virus has spread to major world powers such as the United States of America.
Infected US nationals arrive in air ambulance
Information pieced together over the weekend indicated that the UN and the United States of America (USA) are sending strong warnings across to people about the killer virus.
One of the two Americans working in Liberia, Dr Kent Brantly, a medical doctor, landed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, United States aboard an air ambulance on Saturday.
Brantly and the second victim, Nancy Writebol, a missioner, work for Liberia-based faith-based charity organisation, Samaritan’s Purse.
According to Reuters, Writebol is due to be flown to the United States on a later flight, “as the plane is only equipped to carry one patient at a time.”
Brantly and Writebol were helping respond to the Ebola outbreak when they contracted the disease.
Reports had had it earlier on Friday that America held its breath as news filtered in that the two citizens infected with the deadly virus were being airlifted from Liberia to Atlanta for treatment.
A specially-equipped medical charter flight was sent to Liberia by the US authorities to bring them back.
According to reports, the evacuation charter plane, a customised business jet, is retrofitted with medical equipment, including an isolation chamber, with onboard personnel dressed head-to-toe in space suits.
The infected victims, reports added, would be taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, near the headquarters of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
CNN reported that the patients will need to be in a “pristine, sanitised environment before any kind of treatment.”
WHO’s Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, had confessed at a meeting on Friday that the disease was getting out of control.
Air passengers quarantined in Namibia
In Namibia, it was reported that over 100 passengers on Air Namibia flight SW722 were held in isolation for almost four hours on Friday morning, after it was suspected that one of them had Ebola.
The passengers, from Johannesburg, who that landed at Hosea Kutako International Airport at about 7:32 local time, were later released after doctors carried out checks on them.
Chairperson of the national health emergency management committee in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, A senior health official in the
country, Dr Jack Vries, was reported to have confirmed the quarantine, but said it was a false alarm.
“The suspected passenger had an allergic reaction after eating food that contained fish. He is, however, clear now,” said Vries.
Also, the United Arab Emirates, made moves to forestall an outbreak, is restricting movements into it from affected countries. The country’s notable airline, Emirates Airline, told the Agence France Presse (AFP) on Friday that; “Emirates will be suspending its service to Conakry from (Saturday) 2 August, 2014 until further notice, due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Guinea.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers. However the safety of our passengers and crew is of the highest priority and will not be compromised.”
West African countries take stiffer measures
AFP also reported that West African nations have agreed to impose a cross-border isolation zone.
The announcement came at an emergency summit in Conakry on Friday where WHO representative, Chan, raised the ‘Ebola out of control alarm.’
“We have agreed to take important and extraordinary actions at the inter-country level to focus on cross-border regions that have more than 70 per cent of the epidemic,” Secretary-General of the Mano River Union group of nations, Hadja Saran Darab, said.
“These areas will be isolated by police and military. The people in these areas being isolated will be provided with material support,” she said.
ECOWAS steps in, sets up solidarity fund
Christian Okeke – Abuja
The Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) has stepped into the incidence of Ebola epidemic in some regional states and is currently co-operating with member states and international partners to stem the spread of the Ebola virus.
The disease has so far claimed more than 720 lives from over 1,000 cases reported in the region.
Speaking on the intervention, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Desire Ouédraogo, stated that the commission considered the outbreak as a regional security threat.
He disclosed that under the directive by Heads of State and Government to the Commission and the West African Health Organisation, (WAHO), an Ebola Solidarity Fund has been set up to ensure that all affected countries are supported to rid the region of the disease.
The president of the body, who spoke while accrediting the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Gu Xiaojie to ECOWAS, during a short ceremony at the Commission’s Abuja headquarters, recalled that most of the casualties from the disease in the region had been reported in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia with Nigeria recording one death.
The ECOWAS chief informed the Ambassador that the leaders of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and World Health Organization (WHO), senior officials were due to meet in Conakry, Guinea, during the weekend as part of efforts to develop a comprehensive strategy and mechanism to eradicate the disease.
Speaking after presenting his Letters of Credence to President Ouédraogo, Ambassador Xiaojie, expressed China’s sympathy and solidarity with ECOWAS and the affected member states, and pledged his country’s support in combating the outbreak.
Source: Tribune
