The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday denied the ongoing Ebola outbreaks took place in West Africa has got out of hand.
"The situation was not out of hand, and a
lot of work had been done in the three affected countries - Guinea,
Sierra Leone and Liberia - to tackle the situation and stop the
transmission of Ebola virus," Dr Pierre Formenty, an expert from WHO's
Department of Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response told a
press conference.
He said WHO with local authorities had
been able to control the outbreak in different places, for example
Telimele and Dabola in Guinea. Despite there were places where WHO was
not totally successful, but other places where it had been successful in
stopping the chain of transmission.
However, difficulties in identifying
cases, tracing the point of contact and delivering the message to the
population about the infection still existed in those affected
countries, notably in the forest areas.
"Given the recent outbreak of the virus
in Sierra Leone, and with people traveling to Liberia and elsewhere, WHO
needed to address the possibility of continuous transmission between
countries," he added.
He warned the other West African border
countries, such as Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau and
others would be prepared in case people infected with the disease
traveled to them.
As of Thursday, a total of 386 Ebola
confirmed, probable and suspected cases had been reported in Guinea,
including 280 deaths. Sierra Leone had reported 176 cases including 78
deaths. Liberia had reported 63 cases including 41 deaths.
In an effort to interrupt further spread
of this virus in the shortest possible time, WHO will convene a special
meeting between July 2 and 3 in Ghana to discuss the best way of
tackling the crisis collectively as well as develop a comprehensive
inter country operational response plan. http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2014-06/28/content_32799749.htm
