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Ebola outbreak: 30 new cases a week

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Ebola virus from Shutterstock
Ebola virus from Shutterstock

The Ebola outbreak in Africa has not run its course and around 30 people are still getting infected each week, the United Nations' special envoy for the disease said on Monday.

The worst recorded outbreak of the virus has killed more than 11 000 people across West Africa since late 2013, but had abated in recent months. A new flare-up in Liberia is seen as a setback in the fight against it.

"The battle can be won, but it requires sustained effort, very careful negotiation with communities and perfection in follow-up of everybody who has been a contact," David Nabarro told a media briefing in Cape Town.

Read: Man spreads Ebola via sex 5 months after cured

He said under normal circumstances, an infection rate of 30 people a week would be considered "a major, major outbreak".

"Probably about one third of these people are not coming from the contact list, which means they are surprise cases, and that's a big worry," Nabarro earlier told a conference organised by the World Health Organisation.

Infection rates are down from the peak of the crisis. But Liberia reported a 17-year-old boy tested positive for the virus on June 30 - almost two months after the country was declared free of Ebola.

Liberia, the country worst hit by the outbreak, had been hailed as an example for neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone, which are also struggling to stop the spread of the disease.

Forgetting the ABC

Olawale Maiyegun, social affairs director at the African Union Commission, said it seemed communities were forgetting a key "ABC" or "avoid body contact" rule and becoming complacent.

"Where is the ABC rule? I saw people dancing together, I was alarmed in (Sierra Leone's capital) Freetown," Maiyegun told journalists at the same briefing.

The Ebola outbreak has galvanised a global response. Last week donor countries pledged another $3.4 billion in addition to $1.8 billion of unspent money in an effort to eradicate a disease that has wreaked economic and social havoc.

Concern over loss of health staff

Meanwhile, the World Bank said last week in a statement that more than 4 000 women could die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth in Ebola-hit countries due to the loss of doctors, nurses and midwives to the epidemic,

The loss of health workers to Ebola could increase maternal mortality in Guinea by 38 percent, 74 percent in Sierra Leone and more than 100 percent in Liberia, the bank said in a report.

Read: New Ebola test gives results in 11 minutes

"The loss of health workers to Ebola could increase maternal deaths up to rates last seen in these countries 15-20 years ago," said Markus Goldstein, lead economist at the World Bank.

Health workers have died at a higher rate than other segments of the population group, the World Bank said.

More than 500 health care staff are among the over 11 200 people killed in West Africa by the hemorrhagic fever that continues to claim lives.

The ensuing lack of medical skills puts a further strain on already battered healthcare systems and is likley to affect mortality not related to Ebola even when the three countries are declared free from it, said the report.

Also read:

Villagers eating dog meat has caused Ebola to resurface in Liberia

Experimental Ebola drug cures monkeys

Ebola vaccine works, but needs booster

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