Health workers, on Sunday, turned up in
Monrovia, Liberia's capital to remove two
bodies of possible victims of the Ebola virus,
four days after they dropped dead there when
nobody would take them to hospital.
Reuters reports that Nema Red, a resident of
Clara Town, said the two men who lay dead in
the street for days had shown symptoms of
Ebola such as bleeding and vomiting.
"They started seeking help from the
community to take them to the hospital,
but community members ran for their
lives ... they both gave up and dropped
dead on the
ground in the streets of Clara Town,"
she said, saying they lay there four
days.
Elsewhere at a swampy field in the Liberian
capital, the health ministry ordered 100
graves to be dug for victims of the deadly
tropical virus, but only five shallow holes
partly filled with water had been prepared by
Saturday evening.
Monrovia's overcrowded and understaffed
Elwa Hospital has had to turn away Ebola
cases this week, a scenario exacerbated by
the withdrawal of some international staff
following the infection of two U.S. health
workers here. One of them has arrived for
treatment in the United States and the second
is due to follow on an overnight flight on
Monday.
Strong resistance like this from workers too
afraid to handle infected corpses or
communities opposed to burying them nearby
has slowed down stretched West African
governments as they seek to control the worst
Ebola outbreak in history. The Ebola virus has
killed 227 people so far in Liberia and at least
826 people in the region, according to the
World Health Organization.
Information Minister Lewis Brown confirmed
the bodies had been collected but said they
had only been there for a few hours. "They
have been removed," he said, adding their
houses would be fumigated and relatives
placed under surveillance.
BOTCHED BURIALS
Ebola, which is fatal in more than half of
cases in the current outbreak, is transmitted
by direct contact with the blood or fluids of
the infected, including the dead. Monrovia's
first burial site for 30 bodies, in the poor
township of Johnsonville, was abandoned by
health workers after the land owner refused
to sell the land to bury Ebola victims.
A few of the corpses were left floating in
body bags in pools of water, which led to
complaints from the residents.
A local man, Bill Marshall, said residents had
not been consulted before the cemetery was
created.
"Ebola, we don't know where it came
from and we don't know its effect," he
said. "The grave will give us Ebola, it will
kill us."
At a second site, an angry crowd gathered,
shouting at health workers dressed in white
protective suits who sought to appease them
by handing out Ebola information flyers.
"You will have to kill us first," shouted
one group.
Soldiers from the Liberian army with shields
and bulletproof vests arrived on the scene
shortly afterwards. A source in the health
ministry said the bodies were finally buried
overnight with the help of around 40
additional workers.
STRICT MEASURES
The government says that high levels of
mistrust and resistance from local
communities justifies a series of strict new
measures designed to control the outbreak.
Liberia plans to close schools and consider
quarantining some communities as part of an
action plan outlined this week by President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
In a crisis meeting on Sunday attended by the
president, officials decided that the names of
those in contact with suspected Ebola cases
would be shared with airport and security
authorities to restrict their movements.
Brown added that the government had
decided to enforce mandatory cremations to
limit contact with the dead and to avoid
contamination of water sources.
"The Johnsonville burial did not go that well,"
said Brown. "From now on, victims will be
cremated."
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