people trying to illegally cross the border from neighbouring Sierra
Leone, which was closed to stem the spread of ebola. Soldiers
stationed in Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties, which border Sierra
Leone, were to "shoot on sight" any person trying to cross the border,
said deputy chief of staff, Colonel Eric Dennis.
The order came after border officials reported that people have
continued to cross the porous border illegally. Previously, Grand Cape
Mount county had 35 known "illegal entry points," according to
immigration commander Colonel Samuel Mulbah. Illegal crossings were a
major health threat, said Mulbah, "because we don't know the health
status of those who cross at night."
Like war: The Ebola crisis
Liberia closed its borders with Sierra Leone weeks ago in an attempt
to contain the ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 1100 people
in West Africa so far. Meanwhile, Liberian officials are continuing to
search for 17 ebola patients who fled an attack on a quarantine centre
in Monrovia, raising fears they could spread the deadly disease. "We
have not yet found them," Information Minister Lewis Brown said,
yesterday, adding that those who looted the place took away mattresses
and bedding that were soaked with fluids from the patients."
On Saturday, youths wielding clubs and knives raided the medical
facility set up in a high school in the densely-populated West Point,
some shouting "there's no ebola", echoing wild rumours that the
epidemic has been made up by the West to oppress Africans. Authorities
are now considering sealing off the area, home to around 75,000
people, although some reports suggest the infected patients may have
already fled West Point.
WHO urges detention of suspect patients
Meantime, the World Health Organization, WHO, yesterday, urged the
authorities in countries affected by the ebola outbreak to screen
people departing international airports, seaports and major border
crossings and stop those with symptoms of the virus from leaving.
"Affected countries are requested to conduct exit screening of all
persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings,
for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola
infection. Any person with an illness consistent with Ebola Virus
Disease, EVD, should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is
part of an appropriate medical evacuation," the UN health agency said.
Our meat has no Ebola - Oyo State Bushmeat Sellers Association
On the flip side, scores of bush meat sellers, yesterday, marched
peacefully to Governor Abiola Ajimobi's office at the Oyo State
Secretariat, Ibadan, complaining of low patronage due to the outbreak
of ebola disease. The women under the aegis of Bushmeat Sellers
Association lamented that since the announcement that the deadly
disease could be caused by eating bush meat, their sales had suffered
a lull.
Speaking on behalf of the association, Alhaja Risikat Odeyemi,
Iyalode, Bushmeat Association, Oyo, said that it was strange that bush
meat which had hitherto been taken as a special delicacy should now be
seen as a poison. Her words: "Our meats do not have any Ebola virus.
We don't know why people should just be peddling rumour that would be
injurious to other people. This is not good at all. They have spoilt
our business without any good reason. What we heard is that the
disease was contacted through the river. Why should they be so
unfair?"
They said before the announcement, a grass cutter was being sold
between N2,000 and N4,000 and the same thing goes for antelope and
other animals. But, now they regretted that there are no sales again.
"We normally stand by the roadside to invite prospective buyers. But,
now when we call them to buy bush meats they always reply us saying,
"Ebola". It is the same meat we have been eating and nothing has
happened to us", Odeyemi said.
Their visit to the governor's office, she added, was to appeal to him
to help dispel the rumour that bush meat causes Ebola. At the time
our correspondent left the governor's office, the governor was yet to
attend to them. Many of the bush meat sellers sat clumsily at the
entrance of the gate because the security men at the gate did not
allow them to move closer to the governor's office.
US to deploy 100 medical personnel to West Africa
The United States Government has announced the deployment of 100
medical personnel to help in the fight against the Ebola Virus
outbreak in some parts of West Africa.
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