By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
The National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) has casted doubt on the possibility of re-opening schools at the end of this month.
NERC`s chief executive officer Palo Conteh said schools would not be safe for children now as the country was still recording new confirmed cases.
Just last month the government announced it was getting ready to reopen schools on March 30, after realising a considerable success in the battle against a disease that has killed over 3000 people in the country.
Ebola entered Sierra Leone last May through Guinea and has since, according to government figures as of Tuesday, March 10, infected 8, 444 people killing 3279 including 11 doctors.
Schools which were supposed to have reopened in September have remained closed since President Ernest Bai Koroma declared a public health emergency in July to stem the spread of the virus.
“There is no way I would advise President Koroma to open schools when there is still spike of Ebola cases in the Country,” Paulo Conteh said.
He said they were still recording high numbers of infections, after the whole country a few weeks back had recorded just two new cases in a day. Since those successful weeks, the numbers of infection had spiked again, with 55 new cases for last week.
But feeling pressured by public expectation, the government in February said it was putting in place modalities to ensure schools were re-opened. Information Minister Alpha Kanu made a public appeal to international development partners for financial support in this regard.
“10 out of 14 health districts appear to have tackled the virus as they have gone for days, some for weeks, without confirming new confirmed cases of Ebola. We see that four remaining districts, with the Western Area included, are still engaged in habits that are making it difficult for us to control the virus,” Conteh said at his weekly press briefing in Freetown.
He said the people in those four districts were still practicing their traditions including giving befitting burials to their dead, which included touching corpses.
Ebola is transmitted through contacts with body fluids of infected persons and there has been warning against body contacts.
The country has had an edge over Ebola with Pujehun District on the border with Liberia going for more than 100 days now without recording any new case.
Other districts like Kailahun and Kenema which were the hottest spots last year during this outbreak have also gone for weeks without recording a new case.
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been at the heart of the worst ever outbreak of Ebola since the disease broke out early last month, spreading through Liberia to Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone’s tough emergency measures such as a three-day lockdown of the country and closing down of schools came after Liberia closed its land border with the country and went ahead to shut down all schools.
Meanwhile, Liberia opened schools a few weeks and has recently discharged its last Ebola patient from hospital, waiting for only the World Health Organisation to declare it free of the disease.
Parents in Sierra Leone have vowed not to send their children to school until the country is declared free of Ebola.
“I will not send my children to school when there is Ebola,” said Alfina Davis, a mother of two, in an earlier interview with Politico.
There have also been criticisms against government’s pronouncement to re-open schools when Ebola is still in the country.
In Freetown, Calaba Town has emerged the newest epicenter of the virus, according to the NERC boss. And because of this and the situation in several other places across the country, Conte said, he would advice the President against re-opening of school.
The NERC chief told pressmen that prior to his coming to the briefing, he was at a meeting at State House which was also attended by Christian Thorpe, the woman in charge of a Presidential Committee set up to put in place modalities in time for the re-opening of schools. A decision was expected on the matter anytime from now, he said.
© Politico 12/03/15
