Via FrontPageAfrica, a December 1 report: ‘No Ebola’ In Politics: Liberia Takes Eye off Ball; 8 New Cases. Excerpt:
Long before the Supreme Court put the brakes on campaign and political activities leading to this year’s senatorial election, the deadly Ebola virus appeared to have taken a backseat to politics. The virus which has so far claimed some 7,244 lives in West Africa, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) numbers, has Liberia in the driver’s seat accounting for the lion's share with 4,181 deaths since the outbreak hit in March.
To date, a total of 16,169 people had been infected with Ebola and 6,928 of these had died in the three countries at the center of the outbreak - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia – according to the WHO. Health workers have been among the worst hit, with 340 deaths out of 592 cases.
Liberia’s next door neighbor, Sierra Leone, which, according to the WHO was still seeing a rapid spread of Ebola in many parts of the country, reported 1,461 deaths from 6,802 cases. This was 63 deaths and 203 cases more than reported on November 26.
Guinea, where the outbreak began nearly a year ago, meanwhile counted 1,284 deaths out of 2,123 cases. This was 24 deaths and 11 cases more than reported earlier. Mali has reported eight confirmed cases, with six proving fatal.
Nigeria, which had reported eight Ebola deaths, and Senegal, which saw only one case, had recorded no new cases for 57 days. Both countries have now been declared Ebola-free.
In Liberia, which has seen a drastic decline in recent weeks have been struggling to deal with the issue of complacency complicated by a senatorial election campaign period, which has broken all the rules of what to do to avoid infection from the virus.
In the past few days, since the National Elections Commission lifted the lid on campaign activities a number of incidents at two campaign-related events have led many to wonder whether Liberia is prematurely uncorking the champagne bottle in anticipation of an early celebration.
At the PHP Community last Wednesday, rival supporters of football legend George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change and Robert Sirleaf an independent candidate and son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, came face to face in the PHP community. Cars were vandalized and supporters from both camps sustained injuries as the two rival groups threw stones at each other and chanted slogans of war. Both Weah and Sirleaf have traded blame for the incident.
Sirleaf declared: “The perpetrators of this wanton act of violence must be brought to justice. Our campaign journey will remain a peaceful one throughout the entire democratic process, as we have faith in the good people of Montserrado County whom deserve a positive future.”
Eight New Cases at ELWA 2
Weah and the CDC in turn blamed Sirleaf’s supporters for starting the fracas. The next two days, supporters of Weah and the CDC took to the streets in massive numbers as the football legend officially launched his Senatorial bid. But concerns have been pouring in regarding the safety and risks the congestions of a large number of people is having on the efforts the international community exerting to fight Ebola in the country.
The fears are compounded amid new reports Sunday that eight new cases were tested positive at the ELWA II facility run by Dr. Jerry Brown. Brown confirmed to FrontPageAfrica Sunday that all eight suspected cases brought to the facility Saturday evening tested positive for the virus. The suspected cases all came from central Monrovia reportedly around the Camp Johnson Road area.
The long report concludes:
In Jenewonde, Grand Cap Mont Country, one of the many hotspots of Ebola, the situation remains dire. The needed help is yet to arrive, and though the death rate has decreased, residents of the town fear there might be a surge if nothing is done to move the sick out quickly.
A team of FrontPageAfrica reporters who visited the area Sunday found fifty persons, including children and pregnant women, under quarantine, complaining of no food to feed them, a recurring theme in most parts of the country lagging behind despite a massive pouring of international goodwill.
As the world responds to an SOS from Liberia and other countries hit by the outbreak, nagging issues like these and those involving health care workers' benefit and starvation in quarantined areas remain as burning an issue as one would expect, competing for the highlight reels.
So is Ebola, a deadly virus, which for now appears to be lost in a sea of political intrigue and lingering uncertainty over the fate of an endgame in post-war Ebola-hit Liberia.
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