New Ebola case hits Liberia

Liberian Health Minister, Bernice Dahn said on Friday, a new case of Ebola has emerged, a setback for the country declared free of the disease on Sept. 3.

Dahn said that it was also a set back for the region, which was struggling to end an epidemic that had killed around 11,300 people.

The patient is a 10 year old boy who lived with his parents and three siblings in Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia, she said.

All six family members, as well as other high risk contacts, were in care at an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Dahn added.

She also said that the hospital was currently decontaminating the unit, all of the healthcare workers who came in contact with the patient had also been notified.

“We know how Ebola spreads and we know how to stop Ebola but we must remain vigilant and work together,” she said.

Liberia has seen more than 10,600 cases of the disease and 4,808 Ebola deaths since it was first announced in March, 2014, according to WHO figures.

The virus has killed about 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, but Sierra Leone was declared free of the virus on Nov. 7 and Guinea has begun its countdown to the end of the virus. (Reuters/NAN)

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