Sierra Leone President, Ernest Bai Koroma Declares State of Emergency over Ebola
Sierra Leone has declared a state of public 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.
Highly infectious Ebola has been blamed for 672 deaths in the West
Africa nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the
World Health Organization.
"I hereby proclaim a State of Public Emergency to enable us take a more
robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak," he said in a speech
late on Wednesday, adding that the measures would initially last between
60 and 90 days. "All epicenters of the disease will be quarantined."
Koroma said that the police and the military would restrict movements
to and from epicenters, and would provide support to health officers and
NGOs to do their work unhindered, following a number of attacks on
healthworkers by local communities.
He said that house-to-house searches would be implemented to trace
Ebola victims and quarantine them. He also said that new protocols had
been established for passengers arriving and departing Lungi
International Airport outside Freetown, but he did not provide further
details, reports Reuters.
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