Massive Ebola spread looming in Liberia after attack

There are concerns in Liberia over a looming wider spread of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), after armed men broke into a closed primary in Monrovia being used as an isolation centre, prompting 29 patients to flee.

The armed men, all youths, were reportedly doubting the existence of Ebola, saying government was only trying to use the campaign against the disease to generate funds.

“Most of the raiders were young men and were armed with clubs,” Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack, told AFP news agency.

“They broke into the isolation unit set up in a high school in a Monrovia suburb, saying President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is broke, that she wants money and that there’s no Ebola in Liberia.

“They broke down the doors and looted the place. The patients all fled.”

On Saturday, Reuters reported the poor handling of the situation in Liberia. Ten patients were said to have fled the same building where the present attack took place, claiming that the centre had no medicine to treat them.

Several hundred local residents were also said to have prevented a burial team that had a police escort from collecting the bodies of suspected Ebola victims in Monrovia, chanting, ‘No Ebola in West Point’.

Since the outbreak of Ebola in February, Liberia has recorded the highest casualty figure – 413 deaths – among other West African countries affected by the virus.

As at Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) placed the death toll at 1,145 people, while about 2,127 cases hava been reported in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.