Authorities in Guinea have arrested 6 people for endangering their lives and that of others by carrying a corpse in a Taxi.
A BBC report says the relatives of a person who died of Ebola carried his corpse in a taxi making the corpse look like a real person.
Authorities said the relatives made the body seat on a chair dressed in a Tshirt and jeans with sunglasses seated in between other passengers.
The relatives have been put in isolation up to 21 days. If they show no signs of infection then they will be charged with violating health emergency rules.
The head of Guinea’s Ebola response, Dr Sakoba Keita, says that it is such actions that account for the continued spread of the Ebola epidemic.
While Liberia was declared Ebola-free on May 9, Sierra Leone and Guinea still detect new cases every week. Recently, the number of new cases rose in both countries.
Last week, Sierra Leone recorded eight new infections as compared to two infections the previous week, and Guinea’s figures were higher than they had been for a month, with 27 new infections recorded. Professor Jean-Marie Dangou is WHO’s country representative in Guinea.
Health authorities in Liberia are monitoring the Ebola situation in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone to prevent a resurgence of the virus in Liberia, the head of the Incident Management System (IMS), Tolbert Nyenswah, has said.
Nyenswah disclosed that to ensure Liberia’s borders are protected the IMS is focusing on strengthening cross-border surveillance, monitoring of border teams and supporting community engagement along the borders.
The current Ebola outbreak is the deadliest in history – and has killed more than 11,000 people. It initially centred on Guinea’s remote south-eastern region of Nzerekore in early 2014, and later spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia free of Ebola as the country had had no new cases in 42 days.
