A
woman walks past signs warning of Ebola in Freetown, an area which has
been hit hard with the spread of the deadly virus, on August 13, 2014
(AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)
London (AFP) - Ebola is
spreading up to nine times faster in parts of Sierra Leone than two
months ago, a report by the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) said on
Sunday.
"Whilst new cases appear to have
slowed in Liberia, Ebola is continuing to spread frighteningly quickly
in parts of Sierra Leone," said the AGI report.
On
average, 12 new cases a day were seen in the rural areas surrounding
Freetown in late October, compared with 1.3 cases in early September,
the report said, a nine fold increase.
Transmission
was also increasing rapidly in the capital Freetown, with the average
number of daily cases six times higher than two months ago.
The analysis was based on three-day averages of new cases recorded by Sierra Leone's health ministry.
It
emerged after the United States envoy to the United Nations welcomed
slowing infection rates in some areas, and improved burial practices.
AGI,
a support initiative set up by former British prime minister Tony
Blair, said that while the picture was changing, the situation was still
"a full-blown crisis".
"The
Government of Sierra Leone is making real strides in tackling
transmission by speeding up access to treatment and safe and dignified
burial," AGI chief executive Nick Thompson said.
"But
we can't rest until Ebola has nowhere to hide. And we can see from
growth in new cases in some rural parts of Sierra Leone that we still
have no time to lose if we’re going to get on top of this."
Almost
5,000 people have been killed by the virus, according to data from the
World Health Organization, which has recorded more than 13,000 cases but
admits the real number of infections and deaths could be much higher. http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-rapidly-advancing-rural-sierra-leone-201756826.html
