The deadly Ebola
virus is back in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This was announced by health
authorities on Tuesday dashing hopes of about 1.2 million people residing in densely-populated
Freetown.
The
government’s National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) on Tuesday recorded three
cases which emerged in the east-end slum of Magazine Wharf — three weeks after
the last known infections in the capital.
Health
officials said six people have been under observation since the first of the
new cases — a casual labourer — tested positive on June 17
Authorities
are concerned that the case could lead to a mini-outbreak in the overcrowded
fishing community, which has poor sanitation and is regularly hit by outbreaks
of malaria and cholera.
Liberia was
declared Ebola-free in May, but hopes that neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea
would quickly follow suit have been dashed recently, with the weekly toll of
infections in the two countries hovering around 25.
The World
Health Organization (WHO) warned earlier this month that the retreat of the
virus “that was apparent throughout April and early May has stalled”.
According to
the WHO, as of June 21, there had been 27,443 confirmed, probable and suspected
cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, of which 11,207 were fatal.
Sierra Leone
has seen almost half of the total caseload, reporting more than 3,900 deaths.