Guinea announces Ebola as epidemic

NEW DELHI:  Guinea, a country in western Africa, has declared Ebola as an epidemic after seven people died in the country’s southeast. The patients were tested for Ebola after symptoms of hemorrhagic fever and those who came in contact with the sick were kept in isolation, said officials. Dr Sakoba Keita, Head of National Health Security Agency, on Sunday, February 14, after an emergency meeting in the capital, said that early on Sunday morning, the Conakry laboratory confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus.

Guinea’s declaration comes one week after east Congo confirmed it also had cases. The cases marked the first known resurgence of the virus in West Africa since an epidemic began in 2013–2016 and left more than 11,300 casualties across the region. A representative from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that urgent assistance will be sent to the affected place.

Combating Ebola again will put increased stress on health services in Guinea as they battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Krutika Kuppali, former medical director of an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone during the previous outbreak, said that the resurrection of Ebola is very worrisome for what it could do to the people, the economy, and the health infrastructure of the country.

The ministry said that health workers are working to trace and isolate the contacts of the Ebola cases and will open a treatment centre in Goueke, which is less than an hour’s drive from Nzerekore. It also said that they have asked WHO for Ebola vaccines. The new vaccines have greatly improved survival rates.