HEALTH CHECK on The First Avenue Breakfast The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Kenya as a high-risk country for the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. Kenya was vulnerable because it was a major transport hub, with many flights from West Africa, a WHO official said. This is the most serious warning to date by the WHO that Ebola could spread to East Africa. The number of people killed by Ebola in West Africa has risen to 1,069, the WHO said in its latest update. Fifty-six deaths and 128 new cases were reported in the region in the two days to 11 August, it added. Canada said it would donate up to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to help fight the outbreak. Airport health checks In Sierra Leone, a doctor who treated patients infected with Ebola has died, reports the BBCs Umaru Fofana from the capital, Freetown. Women praying in Monrovia, Liberia (12 August 2014) Women have been holding daily prayers in Liberia for people affected by Ebola Dr Modupeh Cole is the second Sierra Leonean doctor to die of the disease. In Nigeria, Africas most populous state, a third Ebola-related death was reported on Tuesday. In other developments: Germany has ordered all its citizens, except health workers, to leave Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three states where the outbreak has been the deadliest. Guinea-Bissau has decided to shut its border with Guinea, Reuters news agency reports. Ghana has delayed the opening of universities and colleges by at least two weeks to put in place measures to screen students arriving from Ebola-hit countries. The African Union has pledged $1m (£600,000) to help fight the disease. The WHOs country director for Kenya, Custodia Mandlhate, said the East African state was classified in group two; at high risk of transmission. Health checks at the main airport in the capital, Nairobi, have been stepped up in recent weeks. Global resource The Kenyan government said it would not ban flights from the four countries hit by Ebola. Volunteers bury the body of an Ebola victim in Sierra Leone Strict precautions must be observed when burying those who have died of Ebola We do not recommend ban of flights because of porous borders, health cabinet secretary James Macharia said. Kenya receives more than 70 flights a week from West Africa. The West African regional body, Ecowas, said one of its officials, Jatto Asihu Abdulqudir, had died of Ebola in Nigeria. The 36-year-old had been in contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian government employee who was the first to be killed by the virus in Nigeria on 25 July, Ecowas said in a statement. Mr Sawyer had flown in from Liberia, when he was diagnosed with Ebola after collapsing at the airport in Lagos, the biggest city in sub-Saharan Africa.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 07:53:09 +0000
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