Sunday 5 October 2014 was one of the single deadliest days in Sierra Leone since the Ebola outbreak more than four months ago, according to Sierra Leone government health statistics.
The everyday update from the ministry of health recoded 121 deaths from the Ebola Virus Disease and scores of new infections in one day. The figures, which covered the period through Saturday, put the total number of deaths at 678, up from 557 the day before, according to Reuters.
The daily statistics compiled by Sierra Leone's Emergency Operations Centre also showed 81 new cases of the haemorrhagic fever.
Britain and China have sent personnel to Sierra Leone. Cuba dispatched a 165-member medical team, including specialists and nurses, to Sierra Leone last week.
Deputy health and sanitation minister, Madina Rahman, told the international multimedia news agency on Saturday that the Cuban team's mission would last at least six months. She said the team would be deployed to areas across the country.
The overall death toll from the epidemic reached 3,439 out of a total of 7,492 cases in West Africa and the United States as of 1 October, the World Health Organization said last week. The U.N. agency's statistics varied from those compiled by Sierra Leone.
(C) Politico 07/10/14
