Ebola: African countries declare state of emergency.
In Liberia, where the bodies of the dead remain in the streets, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declared a national state of emergency for at least 90 days, claiming that extraordinary measures are necessary to ensure the "very survival of the country"; the virus has already caused nearly a thousand deaths.
From the Lusa News Agency
West African countries affected by Ebola are declaring a state of emergency. The virus has already caused nearly a thousand deaths. Europe has received its first infected person for treatment.
In Liberia, where the bodies of the dead remain in the streets, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declared a national state of emergency for at least 90 days, claiming that extraordinary measures are necessary to ensure the "very survival of the country."
In the country, military barriers are preventing hundreds of people from leaving the province of Grand Cape Mount, which borders Sierra Leone, and the capital Monrovia, due to the outbreak. According to the Lusa news agency, the Liberian government claims that the measure is to prevent infected people from crossing into uncontaminated areas.
In Sierra Leone, 800 soldiers have been deployed to hospitals and clinics to help treat Ebola cases. Parliament is expected to meet to ratify the state of emergency declared last week.
In Nigeria, concern about the disease has increased after the death of a nun in Lagos. It was the second recorded death from Ebola in the country. The country hopes to receive a US drug, still in the testing phase, to prevent the spread of the virus, but US President Barack Obama considers it too early to send the medicine and calls for the construction of "a strong public infrastructure".
Since the beginning of the year, the epidemic has caused 932 deaths and infected more than 1.700 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria.
Ebola causes high fever and, in the most severe cases, hemorrhaging. It is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, and people who are close to patients are at the highest risk of contracting the disease.
While African countries struggle to contain the spread of the epidemic, Spain evacuated a 75-year-old Catholic priest, Miguel Pajares, from Monrovia after he fell ill while assisting patients at a hospital in the Liberian capital. The missionary was the first patient to be transported to Europe for treatment.
The military plane, equipped with special equipment, transported the priest to Madrid this morning, along with a Spanish nun who worked at the same hospital in Liberia but who did not test positive for the disease, the Spanish government announced.
The priest was in stable condition and showed no signs of bleeding, while the nun appeared to be doing well and will undergo further testing.
Two American citizens who worked for Christian institutions in Liberia, also infected, were brought to the United States in recent days and have shown signs of improvement after taking an experimental drug known as ZMapp, which is difficult to produce on a large scale.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has convened an emergency session, which has been taking place in Geneva behind closed doors since Wednesday, to decide whether to declare an international health crisis. A decision is expected this Friday.