An isolation zone will be created in West Africa to seal off the epicentre of the world’s worst-ever Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 700 people.
Almost 700 people have died in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone over the past four months, including Sheik Umar Khan, a doctor who was at the forefront of the fight against the disease in Sierra Leone.
There is no cure for Ebola, which causes diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.
The isolation zone announcement came as the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned the situation could turn catastrophic if the outbreak is not contained.
Hadja Saran Daraba, the secretary-general of the Mano River Union bloc grouping the West African nations, said it will be made where Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone meet.
“We have agreed to take important and extraordinary actions at the inter-country level to focus on cross-border regions that have more than 70 per cent of the epidemic,” she said.
“These areas will be isolated by police and military. The people in these areas being isolated will be provided with material support.
“The healthcare services in these zones will be strengthened for treatment, testing and contact tracing to be done effectively.
“Burials will be done in accordance with national health regulations. We agreed to provide our health personnel with incentives, treatment and protection so they could come back to work.”
Ms Daraba did not outline the exact area to be part of the isolation zone, but the epicentre of the outbreak spreads from Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone to Macenta in southern Guinea, almost 300 kilometres away.
The outbreak is the worst since the disease was discovered in the mid-1970s, with 729 deaths.
Epidemic response ‘woefully inadequate’: WHO
The announcement came at the end of an emergency summit to launch a $100 million response to the epidemic.
WHO chief Dr Margaret Chan told the summit of regional leaders that the crisis is spiralling out of control and could spread to other countries.
She labelled the response to the epidemic “woefully inadequate”, saying the outbreak was “moving faster than our efforts to control it”.
“If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries,” Ms Chan said.
“It is taking place in areas with fluid population movements over porous borders, and it has demonstrated its ability to spread via air travel, contrary to what has been seen in past outbreaks.
“Cases are occurring in rural areas which are difficult to access, but also in densely populated capital cities. This meeting must mark a turning point in the outbreak response.”
However, Ms Chan said the outbreak could be stopped and the public was not at high risk of infection.
Liberia has put in place measures including closing all schools and some government departments as well as possibly quarantining affected communities.
Sierra Leone has declared a state of emergency and called in troops to isolate Ebola victims.
However, the leader of Guinea’s Ebola taskforce said his country would not be following these moves.
“Some measures taken by our neighbours could make the fight against Ebola even harder,” Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite told Reuters, citing in particular the closure of schools.
“When children are not supervised, they can go anywhere and make the problem worse.”
US evacuates two American citizens sick with Ebola
Meanwhile the US State Department says citizens suffering from Ebola in West Africa will be evacuated back to the US to be cared for in strict isolation in the coming days.
US charity Samaritan’s Purse has said two of its staff members, Dr Kent Brantly and another American missionary worker, Nancy Writebol, were stricken with the virus in Liberia.
Both “are in stable but grave condition,” the group said in a statement.
“The safety and security of US citizens is our paramount concern,” deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said, confirming the State Department was facilitating the medical evacuation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Every precaution is being taken to move the patients safely and securely, to provide critical care en route on a non-commercial aircraft and to maintain strict isolation upon arrival in the United States.”
They will be “taken to medical facilities with appropriate isolation and treatment capabilities,” Ms Harf said.
Ms Harf declined to identify the two patients who would be evacuated due to privacy concerns.
Dr Brantly, 33, became infected with Ebola while working with patients in the Liberian capital of Monrovia as he helped treat victims.
The WHO raised the death toll by 57 to 729 on Thursday, announcing that 122 new cases had been detected between Thursday and Sunday last week, bringing the total to more than 1,300 since the epidemic began earlier this year.
Timeline: worst Ebola outbreak
ABC/AFP