By Steven Bockarie Mansaray
There was panic in the northern Koinadugu district, until recently the only Ebola free district, after news of a confirmed case of the deadly virus was reported by a local radio in Kabala on Monday.
This was confirmed by the chairman of the district Ebola taskforce, Dr. Fasineh Samura.
Meanwhile, the disease surveillance officer, Abdul Sesay, told Politicothat the positive case was that of a herbalist from the Republic of Niger. He said the man had lived in Port Loko with his wife, a native of Koinadugu district, where he treated people for various diseases.
Sesay said the herbalist had allegedly contracted the virus while treating a positive case in Port Loko and he became sick and was admitted to a hospital in Lunsar.
The surveillance officer said“the herbalist escaped from isolation and traveled to Koinadugu with his wife just before the recent three-day lockdown, entering Kabala town using bypass routes to avoid checkpoints at SS Curve, Masorie junction and Fadugu”.
According to reports the man was later discovered by the youths of Yogomaia section at his father-in-law’s residence.
The district health management team and the Ebola taskforce committee had quarantined the family residence in Kabala while regular checks continued. So far “all those quarantined are in good health with no signs or symptoms of the disease”, he said, adding that Koinadugu had sent a total of thirty samples for testing and all had proved negative.
Chairman of the district youth council, Francis Foray Koroma, told Politico that his executive intended to move to all the chiefdoms to mobilise the youths and encourage them to implement strict checks in those areas.
He said the number of passes they issued per day had been reduced to furtherminimise movementwhile the chairman of commercial bike riders in Kabala was asked to monitor activities of his members because of allegations that the herbalist was actually aided by a bike rider.
(C) Politico 30/09/14
