The Sunday News
Dakar — Senegal has reopened air and sea borders with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the countries worst hit by the Ebola virus.
The frontiers had been closed since 21 August, but the restriction was lifted with immediate effect, Senegalese interior minister Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo said on Friday last week.
“Senegal has decided to partially open its borders with the Republic of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as of this Friday . . . this measure applies only to air and maritime borders excluding the land border,” Diallo said.
Guinea shares a land border with Senegal, which will remain closed.
The announcement came after Liberia lifted its state of emergency last Thursday, announcing huge gains in the fight against Ebola.
Smaller, more mobile treatment units are being deployed in remote areas of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to act quickly to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
No mention was made of neighbouring Mali in the statement, which has recorded deaths from the Ebola virus. The land border between the two countries remains open.
The World Health Organisation announced last Friday that 5 177 people have now died of Ebola across eight countries, out of a total 14 413 cases of infection, since late December 2013.
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have suffered the most during the deadliest ever outbreak of the disease.
In its latest toll, WHO said that up until 10 November, 2 812 people had died in Liberia, out of 6 878 cases.
In Sierra Leone, 1 187 people had died as of 11 November out of 5 586 cases, WHO said.
Guinea, where the outbreak began late last year, counted 1 166 deaths and 1 919 cases, also as of 11 November.
Senegal was declared Ebola free by the WHO in October after a single, non-fatal case was earlier detected in the country. — AFP
