Guinea Ebola resurgence: Sierra Leone, Liberia trigger emergency measures

Ebola returned to West Africa after years with the report of resurgence of the disease in Guinea. The health ministry declared an Ebola outbreak on Sunday.

The government said it had set up a treatment centre in Goueké town in the south-east where the cases were reported. Officials also disclosed that newly developed vaccines would be acquired through the WHO.

Guinea's neighbours, Liberia and Sierra Leone; who were also adversely affected by the last outbreak have triggered emergency measures to combat a possible infection. We look at the measures taken by both countries.

Sierra Leone reaction to new Guinea Ebola infection

“The government of Sierra Leone has activated its Health Emergency Response System to level II (Enhanced Surveillance, Active Case Finding and robust Community Engagement).

“National Rapid Response Teams are being dispatched to provide additional support to the District Health Management Teams. We intend to work very closely with our Guinean counterparts to quickly contain the situation.

“EVD is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. The virus is suspected to be transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. It can be transmitted through human contact with body fluids of a person infected with the virus," a government statement of February 14 read in part.

Liberian reaction to new Guinea Ebola infection

A presidential spokesperson in Liberia issued a statement on February 14; in which the president ordered relevant authorities to take action on the resurgence next door. The Guinean town that recorded the latest case shares a border with Liberia.

"President of the Republic, Dr. George Manneh Weah has mandated the Liberian health authorities and related stakeholders in the sector to heighten the country's epi- surveillance and preventative activities in the wake of reports of the emergence of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease in neighboring Guinea.

"However, no case of the disease has so far been detected in the country. The President's instruction is intended to ensure Liberia acts proactively to avoid any epidemic situation, the kind Liberia witnessed in 2014.

"President Weah also mandates the health authorities to immediately engage communities in towns and villages bordering Guinea and increase anti-ebola measures," the statement read in part.

What WHO official have said

"The WHO is on full alert and is in contact with the manufacturer [of a vaccine] to ensure the necessary doses are made available as quickly as possible to help fight back," the AFP news agency quoted Alfred George Ki-Zerbo, the WHO representative in Guinea, as saying.

WHO's Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti said the agency was "ramping up readiness."

The West African Ebola epidemic of 2014-16 affected 28,616 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

About 11,310 people died in what was the largest outbreak of the virus ever recorded - and 4,000 of those deaths were in Liberia alone.

Meanwhile health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed a third new case of Ebola in the eastern part of the country on Friday.