A senior adviser to the Red Cross on the Ebola virus has warned although the epidemic is now under control, “one case has the potential to start the epidemic all over again”.
Australian Amanda McClelland previously ran the Red Cross treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone, and said there was “still a lot of work to go” in eradicating the outbreak, which has killed almost 9,000 people.
“I think we have definitely made progress,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“Liberia is down into single digits … in Guinea and Sierra Leone, we have 60 outbreaks a week.
“We are still getting that once a week, every week in two countries there.
“For Ebola, one case has the potential to start the epidemic all over again … there is still a lot of work to go but it’s definitely coming down.”
The comments came as Sierra Leone announced it had to lock down 700 homes after an Ebola death in the country’s capital.
Ms McClelland said one of the challenges the Red Cross had to overcome was opposition to medical burials, which changed the way people grieved and buried their loved ones.
She also said it was frustrating working on the disease and not being able to do more from the beginning, but that she was proud of what Red Cross volunteers were able to accomplish.
“We have almost 6,000 [volunteers] from the three different countries working every day … they are amazing to work alongside,” she said.
“These guys are teachers and street vendors and students who really banded together when the rest of the country was in complete panic.
“I’m also proud of the 28 Australians we have been able to deploy to support them. I’ve been in the field for a long time and been in a number of countries but I’m extremely proud of what we have been able to do in West Africa.”
She said the virus would be at its “tail end” within the next eight weeks, but that “the last cases will take as long as it takes”.
“The discipline we need to get down to zero … can’t be defined by a time,” she said.
“What we need to do, we have tried several times to put a time limit and goal on it as a humanitarian community. We have passed several of those goals.
“The important thing is we commit to the end, getting zero and supporting the communities beyond zero.”