By Jenneh Braima
An official in the office of the information minister, Abdulai Bayraytay, says government has no plans to implement a 21-day lockdown as a response to the Ebola outbreak as widely speculated.
He, however, told Politico at their Youyi Building office in Freetown that they might take "all necessary measures" to prevent the spread of the virus, even if it meant a lockdown, which duration would be determined by health experts.
The spokesman agreed that the 60 to 90 days of a blockade being implemented in Kenema and Kailahun districts had had huge a economic impact on the country.
“The Ebola epidemic has caused serious drop in revenue collection, which is in the region of 30%. Tourism, which used to bring in revenue has also been affected by the cancellation of international flights,” he said, adding that government was still the highest financial contributor to fighting the disease.
Meanwhile, in a meeting with journalists at State House on Tuesday, President Ernest Bai Koroma said he was not sure where the news of a nationwide lockdown was coming from, adding that “maybe people are calling for that but we can’t just institute a lockdown without proper measures in place”.
He said there was still a funding gap in the required amount of resources needed to deal with the outbreak, calling on the international community to up their level of support.
(C) Politico 14/08/14
