Sierra Leone imposes national shutdown

Sierra Leone launched a controversial three-day national shutdown on Friday to contain the deadly spread of the Ebola virus, as the UN Security Council declared the deadly outbreak a threat to world peace.

Most of Sierra Leone's population of 6 million were confined to their homes from midnight, with only essential workers such as health professionals and security forces exempt from the quarantine.

Almost 30,000 volunteers will go door-to-door to educate locals and hand out soap, in an exercise that could lead to scores more patients and bodies being discovered in people's homes.

Health experts have criticized the forced quarantine, arguing that coercive measures to stem the epidemic could backfire and would be extremely hard to implement.

Doctors Without Borders, warned that lockdowns may end up driving people underground "and jeopardize the trust between people and health providers".

But Sierra Leone President Ernest Koroma said that if the population heeds the volunteers' advice, "the campaign will greatly help to reverse the increasing trend of the disease transmission and become a very big boost to our collective effort to stop the outbreak".

The move comes amid mounting global concern over the Ebola epidemic, which has so far killed more than 2,600 people in West Africa.

In New York, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution declaring that the "unprecedented extent of the Ebola outbreak in Africa constitutes a threat to international peace and security".

It called for immediate aid and urged nations to lift travel and border restrictions. It also asked airlines and shipping companies to maintain their links with affected countries.

Beijing vows support

China pledged on Friday to continue to fight the epidemic in West Africa, following President Xi Jinping's announcement in India on Thursday of an aid package of 200 million yuan ($32.6 million).

Beijing has provided cash, food and medical supplies to the epidemic-hit areas since the outbreak of the disease, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news conference.

So far, there are 174 Chinese medical experts working in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and other West African countries.

Meanwhile, a Chinese health researcher said on Friday that China has successfully produced portable kits to help with Ebola virus testing.

The kits use a diagnostic method based on viral RNA detection. They will be easier to use compared to lab testing, according to Li Dexin, a research fellow of the National Institute For Viral Disease Control and Prevention under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

AFP - Xinhua

(China Daily 09/20/2014 page11)