The Liiberian Government confirmed on Wednesday that relatives of Ebola victims defied quarantine order and are dumping corpses of Ebola victims in the streets of Monrovia.
This is happening as government struggles to enforce tough measures to curb further spread of the virus that has killed 887 people.
Lewis Brown, Information Minister said in Monrovia that relatives of Ebola victims were dragging bodies onto the dirt streets rather than face quarantine.
He said some people may be alarmed by regulations imposing the decontamination of victims’ homes and the tracking of their friends and relatives.
“They are therefore removing the bodies from their homes and are putting them out in the streets, and thereby exposing themselves to the risk of being contaminated.
“We’re asking people to please leave the bodies in their homes and we’ll pick them up’’, he added.
Brown said authorities had begun cremating bodies on Sunday, after local communities opposed burials in their neighbourhoods.
He said government carried out 12 cremations on Monday.
Brown said the troops deployed to the border region of Lofa County on Monday night had started isolating infected communities.
“We hope it will not require excessive force, but we have to do whatever we can to restrict the movement of people out of affected areas”, he said.
Finance Minister Amara Konneh said the country’s growth forecast for the year was no longer looking realistic as a result of the outbreak.
British Airways said it was suspending flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until the end of the month due to public health concerns.
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