Eight people who were part of a team sent to educate villagers in Guinea about Ebola have been found dead after they were attacked by angry locals.
Guinean government spokesman Damantang Albert Camara said the discovery was made in a remote area in the southeast of the country.
“The eight bodies were found in the village latrine,” he said. “Three of them had their throats slit.”
Guinea’s prime minister Mohamed Said Fofana had earlier said 7 bodies of 9 missing people had been found.
He said six people have been arrested following the incident, which took place on Tuesday in Wome.
Mr Fofana said the team included local administrators, two medical officers, a preacher and three accompanying journalists.
It is believed they were attacked by a stone-throwing crowd from the village when they tried to inform people about Ebola.
The area is close to the town of Nzerekore, in Guinea’s southeast, where Ebola was first identified in March.
Since then the virus has killed some 2,630 people and infected at least 5,357 people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Most of the deaths have been in Guinea, neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. It has also spread to Senegal and Nigeria.
WHO says ‘upward trend’ in Ebola cases continues
The WHP said more than 700 new cases of Ebola have emerged in West Africa in just one week, showing the outbreak is accelerating.
“The upward epidemic trend continues in the three countries that have widespread and intense transmission – Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone,” the United Nations health agency said.
The WHO said a surge in Ebola in Liberia is being driven by a continued increase in the number of cases reported in the capital, Monrovia.
The UN Security Council on Thursday adopted a resolution declaring the outbreak a threat to world peace and security, and calling on countries to provide urgent aid.
The resolution was adopted unanimously after UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon warned that the number of Ebola infections was doubling every three weeks.
The UN is set to create a special mission to combat virus, deploying staff in the worst-affected states.
Sierra Leone begins three-day lockdown
Sierra Leone has been worst-hit by the virus and has begun a three-day nationwide lockdown aimed at eradicating the virus.
The government said extreme measures are needed to try to contain the outbreak, but many fear it will bring more hardship to a nation that is already one of the poorest on earth.
Critics have also questioned whether it will be effective.
Initially a plan to locate the ill, the government said the lockdown will now seek to make people aware of the risks of Ebola and what to do if a family member falls sick.
About 30,000 volunteers have trained for their dawn-to-dusk information campaign, with residents flocking to buy food and medicine before the lockdown starts.
Queues formed along streets as people stocked up on fuel.
Banks, which have already been operating reduced hours to limit infections, overflowed as clients withdrew cash.
Some say a few days of hardship are worth it if it can help stop Ebola’s progress across the country.
“It’s better to stay at home for three days, even 21 days, than to lose thousands of people in a single day,” Freetown resident Mahawa Allieu said.
“It’s very important, necessary and called for.”
Reuters/AFP