Ebola faces total eradication

-as Government declares 13 counties Ebola freed

The Government of Liberia’s Incident Management System on the Ebola Virus Disease has declared 13 of the country’s 15 political subdivisions Ebola free, while Grand Cape Mount County, which had renewed outbreak, has gone 12days without any new cases, and Montserrado had two confirmed cases three days ago in the St. Paul Bridge community on Bushrod Island, suburb of the capital.

“Montserrado is the only County that has active Ebola cases and the case is in the St. Paul Bridge community on the Bushrod Island; if everyone cooperated with the regulations by the Ministry of Health, those two cases in Montserrado will be the only cases, and start to count the Country’s 42 days to be Ebola free”, announced Tolbert Nyenswah, Assistant Minister, and head of the IMS.

Addressing a daily press briefing at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism Tuesday in Monrovia, Minister Nyenswah thanked the people of Grand Cape Mount County for their cooperation in eradicating the deadly Ebola virus. He said all contacts that have been traced in the county are not showing any sign of the EVD.

According to him, Lofa County in northern Liberia where the virus originated from has now gone 70-71 days Ebola free along with 12 other counties, adding that 11 more days are left to compare Grand Cape Mount County  with the 13counties, which will bring to 14, the number of counties now Ebola free.

According to him, in an effort to eradicate Ebola from Liberia, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare constructed a new Laboratory in the Sinje Ebola Treatment Unit to test suspected patients and get results faster to start treatment quicker.

Nyenswah noted that the Ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Education and other partners to make sure school children are safe while schools are in session.

He assured that the Ministry of Health will make sure all 5,181 schools in Liberia have thermometers to test students’ temperature before they enter classes daily, chlorinated water to wash their hands constantly and other anti- Ebola materials.

Minister Nyenswah said the anti-Ebola materials will be given to school  authorities and the Ministry will check on the schools to make sure those materials are used correctly to keep the children safe and protect Liberia from renewed Ebola infection.

He urged hospitals, clinics, Churches, Mosques, community leaders and families to work together to get Montserrado County to zero infection, and that in making Montserrado Ebola free, Liberians have to be careful with exportation and importation of the virus, saying, transporting sick people from one area to another is easy.

The Incident Management head said the Government of Liberia has sent a team of health officials to Sierra Leone, which left here on Sunday, January 25, 2015 for a cross border meeting.

He said the meeting, which includes Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will focus on strategic plan for active cases finding, rapid isolation and treatment of Ebola, community engagement, and cross border initiatives.

By Ethel A. Tweh